Charmed: The Faith Chronicles
by Brenna's Urbangirl Projects
Summary: Faith Lehane was born in Boston to a drunken mother and absentee father, or so she had believed for 17 years. Then she was called as the Slayer and things took a turn for the worse when she accidentally killed the Deputy Mayor. The Watcher's Council learns of the death and tries to return her to England. She manages to escape and in so doing finds out that she had been adopted
1. Prologue

**Summary:** Faith Lehane was born in Boston to a drunken mother and absentee father, or so she had believed for 17 years. Then she was called as the Slayer and things took a turn for the worse when she accidentally killed the Deputy Mayor. The Watcher's Council learns of the death and tries to return her to England. She manages to escape and in so doing finds out that she had been adopted by the Lehanes and that her birth parents had given her up for adoption. Now she heads for San Francisco to reunite with them and along the way she will try to strive for the redemption she craves.

 **AU:** Set after BTVS Season 3 Episode Consequences and starts in Charmed Season 3 episode Wrestling with Demons.

 **Pairing:** Unknown at this time

 **Disclaimer:** Joss Whedon owns Buffy (TV rights, Warner Brothers owns movie rights) and CBS (possibly as they planned a reboot for a while) owns Charmed.

* * *

 **Prologue**

"Faith saved you?" Giles asked. He tended to wounds Buffy had received when she had found Faith at the docks after the Watcher's Council had tried to take the brunette Slayer back to England and failed.

Buffy nodded. "She could have left me there to die, Giles. But she didn't."

"And the fact that she opted to come …" Giles said excitedly.

"She didn't come back," Buffy interrupted. "She wanted me to give you this." She handed an envelope to Giles.

Giles slowly opened the envelope and read it, his eyes going wide as he did so.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Hey G-Man,

When I stole the truck the Watchers were using to take me to the airport, I found a folder on me. It told that I had been adopted by the Lehanes after being relocated by the Council when I was but a baby, it seems my adopted father had been a Watcher uptil his death. It seems my birth mom and dad gave me up and left me at a hospital in San Francisco. I'm going to find them.

And maybe when I have, I will be able with their help to put this all behind me. I know that the Council very likely has covered up my crimes. So no one should be looking for me, but I also know at least with you all and especially with B, I have things to answer for, wrongs to right.

Once I have found them, then maybe, just maybe I can become the person you all hoped I would have been. The only lead I have is my original birth certificate, which was in the folder. According to it my parents were Prue Halliwell and Andy Trudeau.

For now this is goodbye.

Faith Trudeau

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"How did she appear when she left you?" Giles asked.

"I watched as she wrote the letter," Buffy said. "She also told me about the birth certificate. She seemed sincere about wanting to redeem herself and truly felt that finding her real family would do that. I hope she succeeds, I know from what clues we have that she didn't have a good family in Boston, so I know she needs this. She needs a family like mine, a family that loves her."


	2. Chapter 1: Wrestling with Faith

**Author's Note:** I know I said this story starts in season 4 of Charmed. I changed my mind. It starts in season 3 during Wrestling with Demons.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Wrestling with Faith  
**

Faith had been in San Francisco for two weeks. She had put finding her birth parents on hold when she had stumbled on a recruiting ring that turns humans into demons. Using what had happened in Sunnydale as a way in; she had managed to get herself recruited.

"Mr. Kellman, I swear I can make this right, I swear it," said a guy Faith didn't yet know the name of. She looked down at her arm, there was a chevron there. Kellman the recruiter had said it was for each human she killed, she had been credited for the Deputy Mayor back in Sunnydale.

"I was clear, wasn't I?" Kellman asked. "I make your problems go away and you owe me. Now, did you forget about the last part of the deal?"

"I—I can pay you back. I just need more time," the guy said.

Faith listened; she was biding her time with these guys. She needed information on Kellman, information on how to slay him, on his weaknesses. She didn't want to blow her cover and try to take him out before she was ready.

"More time?" Kellman said. "You don't have any more time. Your debt is due and payable now."

"Please, I'll do anything," the guy pleaded.

Kellman waved and an elevator appeared out of nowhere.

Faith looked toward the elevator, she knew what was down at the bottom of the shaft, the arena where she and the other recruits trained.

"Oh, yes, you will. Come on," Kellman said as he pushed the guy in the elevator. The doors closed and he turned back to face Faith and Tom. "Now I don't have to go over all this again with you two too, do I?"

"Temporary setback, Mr. Kellman," Tom said. "It won't happen again."

"He's right, Mr. K," Faith agreed.

"You know, you two are not the only ones exposed here," Kellman said. "You both got a contract with me and I got a contract with the Source. Five full graduates by tomorrow night. Now, all the others have made their kills. What's the problem?"

"A witch intervened," Tom said.

"What?" Kellman asked. "A witch? How the hell did that happen?"

"We don't know, Mr. K," Faith said.

"We weren't followed," Tom agreed. "I made sure we used every safeguard we learned in the academy."

"Well, she must be tracking the innocent," Kellman said. "We'll have to get you both another one, but we're running out of time here." He picked up a newspaper and glanced over it. "Just kill this one, but do it fast or else there'll be hell to pay."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Phoebe Halliwell sat at the dining room table next to her sister, Piper, in their home. She lit a candle as Piper held a crystal. "Guiding spirits I ask your charity, lend me your focus and clarity," she and Piper chanted just as their eldest sister, Prue, walked in, "lead me to the one I cannot find, restore that and my peace of mind."

"Hey, what's all this?" Prue asked just as Phoebe blew out the candle.

"Oh, we were just looking for Tom. You know, with a little spell that we created," Phoebe said.

"You created," Piper corrected.

"Wow, you came up with the whole ritual that fast?" Prue asked surprised.

"Actually, not as fast as you would think," Piper said as Phoebe kicked her shin under the table.

"Well, thank you. I really appreciate you guys doing this for me," Prue said.

Little did they know that the spell that Piper and Phoebe had just cast would bring them not only to Tom but to someone else, someone none of them even remembered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Across town a woman walked toward her car as Tom and Faith followed her.

Faith was trying to think of a way to save the woman when she noticed a car pull up not far from them and Prue, Piper and Phoebe jumped out. Faith recognized one of them from before. She turned just in time to see Tom throw a fireball at woman.

Piper instantly raised her hands and the fireball stopped in mid-air before it even hit Tom's target.

Faith watched as the women ran toward Tom, herself and the woman and she immediately noticed that neither Tom nor the woman was moving.

"Well, we didn't bring a vanquish, but if we throw him into the street that might do the trick," Piper said.

"We are not gonna vanquish him," Prue said

"Prue, he almost killed that woman," Phoebe said.

"Almost, but didn't," Prue said as she squinted and made the fireball hit the car. "Alright, we need to get him home."

"Prue?" Faith said her eyes widening. "Prue Halliwell?"

"How come she isn't frozen?" Phoebe asked.

"Are you Prue Halliwell?" Faith asked. "Did you date an Andy Trudeau, eighteen years ago?"

"She knows an awful lot about you, Prue," Piper said.

"Who are you?" Prue asked.

"According to my birth certificate my name is Patricia Prudence Halliwell, and you are my mother."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Prue, Piper and Phoebe had returned to the manor and promptly tied Tom and Faith up. Prue flipped through the Book of Shadows trying to find not only a way to save Tom but also an answer to Faith.

"Did you find anything yet?" Piper asked as she and Phoebe entered the attic. She noticed that Tom, unlike Faith, was struggling to get free. She quickly raised her hands and froze him.

"Not yet," Prue said.

"Well, while we're waiting this would be a good time to discuss something," Piper said as the phone rang.

"Oh, phone," Phoebe said. "Piper'll get it."

Piper shook her head. "Nope. Machine, remember?"

"Leo was right," Prue said.

"About what?" Phoebe wondered.

"About the demonic training academy. It's right here in the Book," Prue said.

"Oh, really?" Phoebe said surprised.

"A brutal training program which destroys humanity and …" Prue said as she read from the book.

"And renders the subject demonic," Faith said as they looked at her. "I infiltrated the academy to try and find a way to stop it."

"Why would you do that?" Prue asked skeptical. "If you weren't evil or been swayed?"

Faith smiled. "Because I'm the Slayer."

"The Slayer?" Piper asked.

Suddenly the book started flipping on its own until it reached a page. Prue looked down at it and read it. "Slayers are young women chosen by fate to fight the forces of darkness and bestowed with mystical powers. Hmm this looks like a prophecy … Into every generation, there is a chosen one. One girl in all the world. She alone will wield the strength and skill to stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. She is the Slayer."

"Does that mean she's good?" Phoebe asked.

"Slayers can go bad," Faith said. "I almost did. That's how I got this." She held up her arm and showed them the single chevron on it. "After I joined the academy. I didn't mean to do it, it was an accident. I thought he was a vampire."

"Wait a minute," Prue said as she looked back at the book. "Those chevrons are how they know if you are truly evil, right?"

"That's right," Faith said. "Six means demonic."

Piper pulled up Tom's sleeve and revealed five chevrons. "He's only got five."

"Good, that means he's not fully converted," Prue said.

"We better vanquish them while we can," Phoebe argued.

"You know, when Cole was the hybrid in question, you were all about saving him," Prue said.

"Excellent point," Piper agreed.

"Yes, well, I learned from my mistake," Phoebe said.

"And which mistake was that?" Piper asked.

"Believing that I could save a demon," Phoebe said.

"Hmm. Well, like I said before, this is different," Prue said. "Besides if Faith here is who she says she is, can we actually vanquish my daughter?"

"We have to know if she is first," Phoebe said. "And none of us remember if you were even pregnant eighteen years ago."

"We can worry about that later," Piper said just as Tom unfroze.

"Tom, look at me," Prue said as she walked over to Tom and Faith. "Do you remember me from college?"

The only answer Tom gave was to throw a fireball at Prue, which missed.

"Hmm, does that mean he remembers you or he doesn't?" Piper asked as the doorbell rang. "What is going on down there?"

"Why don't you guys go and find out?" Prue suggested.

"And leave you alone with them?" Phoebe asked.

"I can handle them, it's okay," Prue said as Piper and Phoebe walked out of the attic.

"You don't scare me," Tom said. "I've been trained to deal with witches."

Faith rolled her eyes. "Just curious, we're you trained to deal with Slayers? No you weren't."

Tom glared at Faith.

Prue ignored for the moment Faith's comment and kept her attention on Tom. "I'd forgotten how proud you were when we knew each other."

"I've forgotten you completely," Tom said.

"You don't want to tell me what happened because you don't want to admit how badly you screwed up," Prue said.

"He is going to say he didn't," Faith said. "The training is deeply ingrained."

"I figured," Prue said. "Still while you were human, Tom, you were stupid enough to enter into some demonic contract."

"I was never human," Tom said.

"You had to have been," Prue said. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have made it into the academy. Yes, I know about the academy. I know about the chevrons." Tom glared at Faith. "She didn't have to tell us anything. It's all in the Book over there. I also know that you haven't killed your innocent, yet."

"I will. "

"You'll have to get past me first," Prue said.

Faith sighed. "The problem is even if Tom doesn't get past you, Kellman will come after him and me. I joined the academy to find a way to slay Kellman. "

Prue glanced at Faith and nodded. She looked back at Tom. "Tom, I know who you are, the person that you were, alright, and I know that somewhere in there it still exists. Look, Tom." She showed him her yearbook. "This is who you are, alright? This is who your mother is waiting for."

"Vanquish me, or I will kill you and the Slayer, witch," Tom said.

"Neither is going to happen, alright?" Prue said. "I am going to save you from yourself whether you like it or not." She telekinetically loosened the ropes binding both Faith and Tom and then walked out of the attic.

Faith was the first to get out of her bonds. She quickly rushed over to Tom and rebound him. "Sorry, Tom. But I can't have you rushing to Kellman and telling him I'm a Slayer." She turned and walked downstairs.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the kitchen Prue walked in to find the kitchen a mess. "Okay, so I think I have an idea of how to... whoa."

"My lost and found spell's a little too enthusiastic," Phoebe said.

"We're finding stuff all over the house. It's endless," Piper said.

"I don't mean to sound paranoid, but after all these years I think I've earned that right," Darryl said. "How do you know your spell is not gonna find demons that you're already vanquished?"

"Oh, you mean like Belthazor," Piper said.

"Okay, one demon at a time. Did you get anything on Tom?" Prue asked.

"Just a missing persons file," Darryl said as he handed Prue a folder.

"Alright, anything on a man named Kellman or a young woman named Faith?" Prue asked.

"I doubt your friend there, who I assume is a cop, knows much on Kellman. And the accident I told you about was swept under the rug by some powerful people."

They turned to see Faith standing in the kitchen door.

"What is she doing free?" Piper asked.

"She and Tom should have been escaping," Prue said.

"What?" Phoebe asked.

"I loosened their ropes," Prue said. "I assume you retied Tom's?" Faith nodded. "I was hoping to track down to the demon that turned Tom, break him, break his hold on Tom."

"Why didn't you just ask," Faith said. "I would have gladly led you to him, if it meant helping me slay him."

"Slay?" Darryl said.

"I'm a Slayer," Faith said. "Well the more official title is vampire slayer. But Slayers go after more than just vampires."

"You can't be much older than …" Darryl started to say when he realized what Faith was saying. That she was in some way like the Halliwells.

"I'll be eighteen in a few weeks," Faith said.

"Alright, I guess we're going," Phoebe said.

"Shouldn't we reverse the spell first?" Piper asked.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Thirty minutes later across town Faith, Prue, Phoebe and Piper stood outside Kellman's office. "I better go in alone," she said. "If Kellman is in there he might realize we are coming for him. Are we ready for that?"

"To save Tom, yes," Prue said.

"What about to save me?" Faith said.

Prue sighed. "And you. Alright, but if he isn't in there."

"I'll let you in," Faith said as she entered Kellman's office. She found he was not there and let Prue, Piper and Phoebe. "The elevator is over here." She moved to a spot on the wall and the doors to the elevator appeared. "I'll go down first, you guys follow."

"Be careful," Prue said.

Faith nodded as she entered the elevator and rode it down into the academy. She stepped out and walked over to Kellman. "I have bad news, Mr. K., the witches got Tom."

"The witches?" Kellman asked skeptical. "This is a setback I can ill afford. You like I have a deadline. What about the innocent?"

"They saved her," Faith said.

Kellman frowned. "If I weren't running out of time, I'd …" he said as he leaned over and sniffed Faith. "Is that humanity I'm sensing from you? You didn't have that when I recruited you. Maybe I should give you a lesson in how to get rid of that."

The lights came on around a wrestling ring and two demons led Faith towards it.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the elevator, Prue, Piper and Phoebe are riding it down towards the academy.

"Remind me again why we are doing this," Piper said.

"Because your sisters have a thing for saving bad boys," Phoebe said.

"Well I'm doing this for more than just Tom, now," Prue said. "I'm doing this for Faith. I want to find out the truth, and that can't happen if she's dead."

"I've been thinking about that," Piper said. "There is only one person that would have erased our memories of you being pregnant, not that I am saying you ever were, of course."

"Grams," Prue said. "I know I had the same thought. When were done here and both Tom and Faith are free from Kellman. Then we're going to summon Grams and find out what the heck is going on."

"Oh god," Phoebe said as the doors opened and they got their first look at the academy.

"Okay, I'd like to point out that I have a really bad feeling about this," Piper said as the exited the elevator and saw the wrestling ring. "What the...?"

"Oh, no," Phoebe said.

"I'm the man!" a wrestler said as he pinned a guy to the mat and a hole opened beneath him.

The guy fell into the hole which sealed up behind him.

"Next!" Kellman said as Faith stepped into the ring.

"Faith," Prue said as she started walking toward Faith.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Piper said as she and Phoebe grabbed Prue. "Are you nuts?"

"Maybe we need to go back up top and rethink this whole thing," Phoebe said.

"Oh, well, you know what, Phoebe? That would be such a great plan if Faith weren't seconds away from annihilation before I even have the chance to find out if she is my daughter," Prue said.

"Okay, so we're supposed to risk our lives to save two demons," Phoebe said as Prue glared at her, "he is a demon, so is she remember, she is one of his recruits just as Tom is. Of course, it's okay now that it's your demon, right?"

"The thing is, isn't it silly for the three of us to sacrifice ourselves for one guy and a possible niece were not even sure is in reality your daughter?" Piper said in agreement.

"Alright, what kind of witches would we be if we started playing the odds, if we started picking and choosing our innocents? I mean, this is what we do, isn't it?" Prue asked.

"Then let's do it," Phoebe said.

Prue smiled. "Okay."

"But..." Piper said.

"Faith!" Prue said as everyone turned to face them.

Piper went to freeze Kellman, the wrestler and the demon, but only managed to freeze the demons.

"Your little parlour tricks may work on some of the newer boys but the rest of us will be a little tougher," Kellman said as he pulled up his sleeve to reveal eight chevrons on his arm. You girls are way out of your league down here. You have no idea."

"Well, we know that you have a deadline, Mr. Kellman. Time to deliver your recruits?" Prue said.

"And you think you can stop me, hmm?" Kellman said. "Think you can save her and Tom? I kind of admire that level of arrogance."

Prue smiled. "Thanks. We kind of like to think of it as confidence."

"Well, get over it. They are both lost," Kellman said as Faith stepped out of the ring.

"You can't deliver her if she's frozen," Prue said with a glance at both Piper and Faith.

Piper nodded in understanding and raised her hands and froze Faith, or rather pretended to. "Kind of hard to make her kill an innocent now, huh?" she said.

"Unfreeze her," Kellman said.

Piper smirked. "Nope," she said as Kellman moved toward her. "Ah! If anything happens to me, she's gonna stay that way."

"You're bluffing," Kellman said.

"Are we?" Prue asked.

"I'm listening."

"Alright, how about three witches in exchange for Faith and Tom's souls?" Prue asked.

"Prue!" Phoebe said.

"If we win, we get Tom and Faith back. If we lose, you get Tom, Faith and the three of us. Risk two to gain five," Prue said.

"You really think you can win in the ring?" Kellman said.

"Well, you know, we don't really have much of a choice," Prue said. "But if we do win, we don't go into the training program. We go free."

Kellman smirked. "Did your homework. Okay, you got a deal. You win, you go free. But if you lose, you die. I can't control what happens in the ring, only the Source can."

"Understood," Prue said as she, Piper and Phoebe moved away from Kellman.

"Hey, that bad feeling I was talking about? It's getting stronger," Piper said.

"Alright, you need to stay here and keep up the illusion that Faith is frozen, okay?" Prue said. "It will work in ours and her favor for Kellman to believe it. Maybe she can come up with a plan to take out Kellman before we have the chance to lose."

"I hate this crappy freezing power!" Piper said.

"Okay, our powers seem to have a limited effect on these guys. So we're gonna have to outmaneuver them," Prue said.

"And outsmart them and keep our shoulders off the mat. Piece of cake," Phoebe added.

"So I guess we're as ready as we're ever gonna be," Prue said.

"Uh, Prue, there's one more thing," Phoebe said.

"Now? Now is your perfect moment?" Piper asked.

"Piper, we might die in there," Phoebe said.

"That doesn't mean you should tell her now," Piper argued.

"Okay, tell me what?" Prue asked.

"Cole is still alive. I never really vanquished him," Phoebe admitted.

Prue frowned. "What?"

"By the way, since you're witches, I think it's only fair that I even the playing field," Kellman said as two very large wrestlers entered the ring as the original wrestler stepped out of it.

"You look at this face!" one of the wrestlers said. "This is the face of pain and I'm the bringer of pain! And I'm gonna destroy you! You can cry for mercy but I don't know the meaning of the word!"

"Alright, and people think this is entertainment," Prue said.

"Prue..." Phoebe said as she pulled Prue away. "Are we okay?"

"Not by a long shot," Prue said. "Look, Phoebe, it you waited till now to tell me about Cole in hopes that we would die and you wouldn't have to deal with me, you have another thing coming." She turned and walked toward the ring.

"I think that went well," Phoebe said to Piper.

"She just has a lot on her plate," Piper said. "Between your admission, trying to save Tom and finding out she may have a daughter she doesn't remember giving birth to and that Grams may have given up for adoption. It's I think a lot for her right now."

"You are probably right," Phoebe agreed as she walked over to Prue and they stepped into the ring.

"Alright, I am going to win this fight and save your ass. That way I can kick it myself later," Prue said.

"After I hope we talk to Grams," Phoebe said," about Faith."

Prue glanced toward Faith and nodded. "Right." She turned her attention back to the wrestlers and leapt at them kicking both in the head.

"Wow," Phoebe said.

"Okay, oh god, oh god, come on, do something!" Piper said. "Get angry! Focus! Get motivated! Prue, listen to me. She lied to you big time. Big time lied to you. Even Grams lied to you about Faith. You should have had the chance to raise her. Come on, get angry! Come on, or else we're in big deep. Phoebe, she thinks you're a weakling, like, big time sucker for love. Oh god!"

Kellman glanced at Faith and nodded in understanding. He knew now why they wanted to save Faith so much. He looked at Piper and smirked as a sharp ball materialized and he thrust it into Piper's back, who fell to the floor as the demons unfroze.

"Piper!" Prue said.

"Stop!" Faith said and everyone looked at her. She had a glint in her eye. "You and me, Kellman. You want to give the Source the ultimate prize, right. The death of Slayer. Let's go. If you win, me, my mom and my aunts all die. If I win, I'm free, their free and Tom's free."

Kellman smirked. "You think you can win, Slayer?" he asked. He motioned to the wrestlers who grabbed Prue and Phoebe and pulled them from the ring.

Faith smiled as she stepped into the ring with Kellman. She kicked out knocking Kellman backwards. She kicked Kellman in the head. She smirked as Kellman rushed at her and she dropped and swept his legs out from under him. She leapt on him and pinned him to the mat as the hole opened. She waited till the count of 3 before leaping off Kellman as he slid into the hole. It closed as he disappeared.

Faith looked down at her arm and smiled. She held it up and showed Prue, Phoebe and the demons that she no longer had a chevron on her arm. "He's slayed."

The demons all immediately disappeared.

Prue, Phoebe and Faith ran over to Piper.

"Prue, it looks really bad," Phoebe said. "I don't know if we're gonna make it to Leo."

"Yeah, we will, come on," Prue said as she and Phoebe began to drag Piper toward the elevator.

"Let me," Faith said. "Slayer come with supernatural strength." She picked up Piper and they entered the elevator and rode it up to Kellman's office where they found Leo looking through some of the stuff in the office.

"Leo!" Phoebe said.

"What happened?" Leo asked.

"Hurry! I think she's stopped breathing," Prue said.

Faith laid Piper on the ground as Leo pulled the sharp ball from Piper's back and started to heal her. "How is he able to do that?" she asked amazed at the fact that Piper is healing.

"He's a Whitelighter," Phoebe said. "Think of him like a guardian angel for witches."

"Okay, not that I'm not thrilled to see you, but what are you doing here, Leo?" Phoebe said.

"I was looking for you. I thought I'd start with Kellman," Leo said.

"He was the recruiter," Phoebe said.

"I figured," Leo said. "The Elders think the key to destroying him is to turn one of his recruits against him."

"Already done," Faith said as Leo looked at her. "I'm a Slayer, I got myself recruited so I could try and find a way to slay him. When Aunt Piper …"

Leo looked at Prue. "What?"

"It appears that she may be my daughter," Prue said. "Grams may have erased our memories that I was even pregnant. We intended to summon Grams after we dealt with Kellman to find out for sure."

"Anyways when Aunt Piper was hurt I challenged Kellman and defeated him," Faith said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Mum. Mum, I'm so sorry," Tom said later in the manor. Prue, Piper and Phoebe had gotten Darryl to bring Tom's mom to the manor so that mother and son could be reunited.

"Oh! Oh, Tommy!" Tom's mother said as he hugged her son. "It's alright. Everything's alright."

"I guess some guys are worth saving after all," Phoebe said.

"We just need now to find out the truth," Prue said as she looked at Faith who nodded. She, Faith, Piper and Phoebe headed up the stairs and into the attic.

Prue lit several candles in a circle on the floor and then walked over to the book and flipped through it to a page. "Hear these words, hear my cry. Spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the great divide," she chanted.

Grams appeared in the circle and smiled. "Hello, Patricia."

"So it's true," Prue said. "You erased our memories of her."

"Yes," Grams said. "Prue, you were only fifteen when Andy got you pregnant. I already was raising the three of you. And you were still in school, you had no way to take care of a child. So I made the only decision I could, the decision I felt was right. I bound Patricia's powers, cast a memory spell on you three, Andy and his parents and left Patricia at the hospital. If I had known you would be called as the Slayer, Patricia, I would not have given you up. I would have trained you and protected you from the Watcher's Council."

Prue looked to Faith and smiled. She then looked back at Grams. "I want my memories back. I want to remember carrying her and giving birth to her."

Grams smiled and nodded as she stepped out of the circle and became corporeal. She hugged Faith and then turned to Prue, Piper and Phoebe and began to chant.


	3. Chapter 2: Bride and Gloom

**Author's Note:**

 _ **Megagalvatron -**_ Some interesting ideas you sent in your PM. Though some I don't think I would want to add to this story. For example Joyce being a friend of Patty's and being a witch who had hers and Buffy's powers bound, I did that in Charming the Slayer. I think I will leave that angle there for now. Another I don't see adding is Penny being friends with Travers. I don't see them being friend at all. While Penny knows about the Watcher's Council, I just can't see her being the kind of person to befriend a man like Travers. That said some of your ideas might be incorporated in some way or another, for example Darryl telling Prue about the abuse Faith received, albeit from Mrs. Lehane only since Mr. Lehane was supposed to be a member of the Watcher's Council in this story. I haven't figured out all the details on it, even though the abuse is canon in BTVS. Maybe Mr. Lehane was killed by a demon and afterwards Mrs. Lehane blamed Faith which drove Mrs. Lehane to drinking and abusing her adopted daughter. I don't know, but that could be the angle I take with that.

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Bride and Gloom**

Prue walked out of P3 with her date Justin. She noticed that Faith waited by her car. She had dropped Faith off so Faith could do a sweep of the neighborhood for any vampires. She smiled and waved at her daughter. She needed to talk Piper into getting permits that would allow teenagers and adults under twenty-one into the club.

"So, um, I had a really good time tonight, Justin," Prue said as they walked toward her car and Faith.

"Did you? I mean, really? The reason I ask is that you seemed kind of quiet," Justin said.

"No, it's just that, you know, I've got a lot on my mind with Piper getting married and everything," Prue said.

"Sure, 'course, if I was the paranoid type, I would be thinking it was because of me," Justin said.

Prue smiled. "Don't be ridiculous."

"So who do we have here?" Justin asked when they stopped in front of Faith.

"Faith Halliwell," Faith said.

"My daughter," Prue said.

"Your daughter?" Justin asked.

Prue nodded. "I got pregnant when I was fifteen. You are okay that I have a seventeen year old daughter?"

"Yeah I'm good," Justin said. "So are we still on for lunch tomorrow?"

Prue nodded. "Yeah, pick me up at 1:00."

Justin smiled. "It's a date. Why don't you bring Faith along? I'd like to get to know her."

Prue looked to Faith who nodded. She looked back at Justin. "Okay," she said as she and Justin kissed awkwardly.

"Good night," Justin said.

Prue smiled. "Night," she said as Justin walked away. She looked at Faith. "Go around back and enter through the book door into the office. You can wait there."

"Sure, mom," Faith said. "Mom … that still sounds weird to call you mom after meeting you for the first time just last week."

"I know," Prue agreed. She watched as Faith ran around the back of the building before she walked back through the front door and over to Piper and Leo at the bar. "Hey."

Piper looked down at her watch. "Gee, Prue, it's only 9:00 and your date's already over? How very Disney of you."

"Justin has a meeting early in the morning," Prue said. "Besides Faith is back from her patrol and waiting for me in your office."

"So did you decide if you're going to invite him to the wedding?" Piper wondered.

Prue shook her head. "No, I'm stalling. Oh, you know, he's a nice guy, he's sweet, but he's just so predictable, you know? There's no mystery, no savoir-faire," she said as she put on some lipstick. "You know, besides, a wedding invite definitely makes a statement."

"That he can tie a bow tie?" Leo asked.

Prue shook her head. "No, that the relationship is serious, you know? That it's going somewhere. All that built-in romance, mingling with the family, hidden tensions."

"All the more reason to have a nice, simple, private wedding," Leo said.

"Nice try, mister. Okay, the wedding planner, tomorrow at 11:00, no getting out of it, no orbing out of it, nothing. Don't even try it," Piper said as she headed toward the bathroom at the back of the club.

"I don't know. I just don't want to set her up for a big disappointment," Leo said. "I mean, how do you have a normal wedding when a ghost'll be presiding and the groom's dead?"

"Leo, don't even try to figure it out, alright? It's a Cinderella complex. Every girl goes through it. I've been dreaming of this day my entire life," Prue said.

"Piper's wedding?" Leo asked.

Prue slapped Leo on the arm lightly. "No, mine. I mean, I'm the oldest. I'm supposed to do everything first. I'm supposed to talk first and get braces and get a boyfriend and find a husband."

"Well on the bright side," Leo said. "You were the first to have a child," he said.

"I'm slowly coming to love Faith," Prue said. "But it would have been nice if I had gotten married before getting pregnant."

"Hey, Prue. Can I borrow your lipstick?" Piper asked as she walked up to Prue and Leo.

"What?" Prue asked.

"Lipstick," Piper said. "I'm out. Do you mind?"

"Sure, knock yourself out," Prue said as Piper took the lipstick from her and walked away. "You're welcome!"

"Not to change the subject, but don't you think it's time to let Phoebe off the hook a little? I mean, she came clean about Cole," Leo said.

Prue sighed. "Leo, you can't just pretend to vanquish a demon and then two months later say, gee guys, I'm sorry, I didn't."

"I know, but for what it's worth, I don't think she wants him back in her life anymore," Leo said.

"Maybe not, but that doesn't mean he's not gonna try and kill us again," Prue said. "Or Faith. I have to think about her too. I know she can protect herself because of the Slayer part of her. But I still worry, especially so soon after finally learning I have a daughter."

Leo thought about it and nodded. He could see Prue's point, especially where it concerned Faith.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next day Faith leaned back against a wall watching her mother and Leo with the wedding planners. They were waiting for Piper in foyer.

"Okay, so the more traditional the better as far as I'm concerned," Piper said as she came down the stairs. "The wedding march starts, and I come down the stairs."

"So, no flower girl?" said one of the wedding planners.

"Uh, I don't know. Do I?" Piper wondered.

"Well, unless you want to ask Kate down the street," Prue said.

"It's not something I would ever think of myself doing. Shoot I hate wearing dresses," Faith said. "But I would be happy, Aunt Piper, to be your flower girl."

"Actually I have something else in mind for you, Faith," Piper said. "How would you like to be the ring bearer? I know traditionally that's a boy's role, but …"

Faith smiled. "I'd like that, Aunt Piper."

"Okay," said the wedding planner. "I think we should dress the banister with garlands. Maybe even carry the floral theme all the way to the altar. How many guests are you planning on?"

"Uh, let me think. Fifty, sixty," Piper said.

"Sixty? Like who?" Leo asked suddenly worried.

"Well, there's all the people from P3, friends and Darryl and dad, mom," Piper said.

"Uh, mom?" Prue said, she too was becoming concerned. "Piper, I don't really think that you can count her."

"We'll have to if she's going to eat," said the other wedding planner.

"Oh, trust me, she won't be eating," Prue said.

"I thought your mother passed on," said the wedding planner.

Prue nodded. "Mmm hmm."

"Right, she did. Um, I just I meant I hope she's there in spirit," Piper said.

"Oh," said the wedding planner.

"You're right, that doesn't count," said the other wedding planner as he scribbled something out on his notepad.

"Also, Faith," Piper said as she looked at her niece. "I'd like to invite your friends also."

"I don't know if they would come, Aunt Piper," Faith said. "Not with everything that happened before I left Sunnydale."

"We can ask," Piper said. "Who knows, if they are truly your friends, they will forgive you and they will come."

"Now, have you thought of what kind of hor d'eouvres you'd like by any chance?" said the other wedding planner.

"Um..." Piper said as she thought it over, but nothing immediately sprang to mind.

"Pigs in a blanket," Leo suggested.

Piper laughed. "Leo, I was, I was hoping for something a little bit more elegant," she said as the phone rang.

"I'll get that," Faith said as she walked over to the phone and picked it up. "Halliwell Residence, Faith Halliwell speaking."

"Hi, Faith. It's Justin, is your mom there?"

"Yeah, just a second, Justin," Faith said. "Mom! It's your date!"

Prue rolled her eyes as she walked over and took the phone from Faith. "Hi Justin," she said. She listened for a moment and looked at Faith. "Yeah I'll meet you there," she said as she hung up.

"Hey, Aunt Phoebe," Faith said as Phoebe walked past her and Prue.

"Hey," Phoebe said as she quickly hugged Faith who just stood there. She shook her head. "You are going to have to get used to that you know."

"I know," Faith said. "It's just I've felt more love from you all in the last week than I have in the last sixteen years. It's just feels a little awkward. I'm working on it though."

"Okay," Phoebe said as she looked at Prue. "Well I'm heading out; I'm running late for school."

"Okay, do you want a ride?" Prue asked.

"Isn't Justin picking you up for lunch?" Phoebe wondered.

"Well, his car broke down, so I'm meeting him there and I thought that, uh, we could talk," Prue said. "You know, try and put this whole Cole situation behind us."

"I gotta go," Phoebe said as she hurried out the door.

"Weird," Faith said as Piper walked towards them.

"Okay, tell me the truth," Piper said. "Do you think I'm overdoing it with the wedding stuff? Hello?"

"Uh, okay, why is Phoebe going to school without her books?" Prue said looking at the table where Phoebe's books lay.

"Okay, why is neither Prue nor Faith answering Piper's question?" Piper wondered.

"Maybe because Prue doesn't want both of her sisters not speaking to her," Prue said.

"I was just thinking on how weird Aunt Phoebe was being, sorry Aunt Piper," Faith said.

"Okay, I have to go meet Justin. Sorry Faith, it seems he changed his mind, don't know why," Prue said before looking back at Piper. "Can I have my lipstick back?"

"What lipstick?" Piper wondered.

"The one that you borrowed last night at the club," Prue said.

Piper shook her head. She had no clue what Prue was talking about. "Wasn't me."

"Right, I must've gotten you confused with another Piper," Prue said. "Okay, you have fun with what's going on here, 'cause it, it looks great. Okay, bye."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Prue made great time getting to the restaurant, she even arrived before Justin.

"Hey," Justin said as he walked up to them.

"Hey," Prue returned.

"Sorry about my car."

"Oh, that's okay," Prue said as he kissed her on the hand. "Not a problem."

"What?" Justin asked as he sat down.

"Nothing," Prue said.

"You know, I really should sell that old thing but, I don't know, I kind of like having something not so predictable in this day and age. Know what I mean?" Justin asked.

Prue nodded. "Right. So, you don't think of yourself as predictable?"

"Me?" Justin asked surprised as the waiter approached holding a bottle of wine.

"Pardon me. Beringer, private reserve?"the waiter asked.

Justin nodded. "Yes, thank you. Predictable? Hardly."

"Right," Prue said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the Manor another Justin stood outside waiting on the porch as Phoebe walked up the stairs. "Hey, Justin," she said.

"Hey."

"What are you doing here?" Phoebe wondered just as Faith opened the front door.

"Hey, Aunt …" Faith started to say before she noticed Justin and frowned.

"I'm picking up Prue and Faith for lunch," Justin said as Faith held the door open and Phoebe and Justin walked past her into the foyer.

"Faith, where's your mom?" Phoebe asked.

"She's at the restaurant," Faith said. She looked at Justin. "Meeting you."

"No, remember I said I'd pick you both up here," Justin said.

"But you called this morning before mom left," Faith said. "Said your car had broken down, that you had changed your mind about me coming with mom to the restaurant today."

Justin shook his head. "No, I didn't."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the restaurant Justin poured wine into Prue's glass.

"Oh, no, no. I have to work this afternoon," Prue said.

"So your photographs are a little fuzzy. Call it avant-garde," Justin suggested.

"Oh," Prue said as her phone rang. She was about to answer it when …

"How important can it be?" Justin asked.

"What?" Prue asked as she turned off her phone.

"Can I ask you a favor, Prue?" Justin asked.

Prue nodded. "Sure."

"Last night when we kissed goodbye, it was, I don't know, not great."

"Yeah," Prue said not sure where this was going.

"How about we try it again, see if we can't do it a little better?" Justin asked. "Come on. What's the worst that could happen?" He leaned over and kissed Prue.

While Prue was distracted by the kiss everything around her changed. One moment they were in the restaurant, the next moment they were in a cavern.

"Where are we?" Prue asked. "I can't move."

Justin smiled. "My apologies," he said as he shapeshifted into a warlock named Zile.

"It's true," said a dark priestess, Dantalian. "Every bride is beautiful on her wedding day."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Faith stood watched as Phoebe scryed for Prue.

"Find her?" Piper asked as she came down the stairs carrying the Book of Shadows.

Phoebe shook her head. "Not yet."

Piper sighed. "We're screwed."

"Not yet," Faith objected, though she half-agreed that they may actually be screwed. The Slayer within her was trying to tell her something she was sure of it, she just wished she knew what.

"Leo," Piper said as Leo orbed in, "what did you find out?"

Leo sighed. "Nothing."

"Okay, now we're screwed," Phoebe said.

"Nothing on the map, nothing in the Book," Piper said. "Leo, somebody must know something."

"Well, the Elders support your shape-shifting warlock theory, but they can't get a clear read on the situation," Leo said.

"Wait," Faith said. "So mom's disappeared and neither you nor these Elders can sense her?"

"Pretty much," Leo said. "But she can't be dead. They'd be able to sense that no matter how evil is interfering."

"Okay, then what's going on?" Phoebe wondered. "What are we up against?"

"Something powerful enough to keep us from finding her," Piper said.

"Wait," Faith said. "Can someone or something have abducted her as a way at getting at me because I'm the Slayer."

"It is of course possible," Leo said. "But it is also possible that a powerful evil is targeting your mom, Piper and Phoebe also, because of who they are."

"Either way, we can't figure out who they are, let alone how to fight them," Piper said. "That sucks."

"What we need to figure out is why a warlock wants Prue alive," Leo said.

"Well it's likely not someone after Faith. They would want to make it easy for her to track Prue if they were after her. And it can't just be for Prue's powers. I mean, they wouldn't need to keep her alive to get them," Phoebe said.

"Unless it's an upper-level warlock which wants..." Leo said.

"All of our powers," Phoebe said in understanding.

"Uhm does that mean mine also, or just the power of three?" Faith wondered.

"It could be yours also," Leo said. "The only thing nearly as powerful as the power of three is the family magic. If the entire family were turned evil or had their powers taken. Not only would they have the power of three, but the entire Halliwell family magic."

"Regardless," Piper said, "we still have the same problem. No idea how to find her."

"It's too bad you vanquished that demonic bounty hunter," Leo said. "He could've helped."

"Right," Phoebe said as she stood up.

"Where are you going?" Piper asked.

"I have a hunch. Wait for me."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Prue was dressed in black and lay on an alter as Dantalian covered her face with a black veil. "Shall we begin?" She asked.

Zile nodded as he lay next to Prue. "I'm ready."

"I hope so," Dantalian said. She touched Prue and Zile. "In the beginning, we were damned, and through damnation, we found freedom, power, and purpose. As I unite you today, I remind you of those gifts." She tied Zile's hands to Prue's. "And in your union, may these gifts increase so your powers may grow in the service of evil. So be it."

"How long before her transformation is complete?" Zile asked.

"Sundown. Can you wait that long?"

"For the power of the Charmed Ones?" he said with a smirk. "I can wait a few hours."

Dantalian nodded. "Let me be the first to congratulate you," she said as she kissed him.

"Why?" Zile asked as he found himself no longer able to move by his own.

"Because I'm tired of bestowing great power on others," Dantalian said. "The Halliwell Book of Shadows is the key to unbelievable power for me. Evil will spread from this sister to the other two, from them to the Book, from the Book to this sister's daughter. Once both the Book is evil and the daughter, they'll be mine. The Book alone will make me unstoppable. But having the Slayer for an ally will cement my power. And of course once the Slayer is evil, the entire Slayer line will become evil, including the other Slayer, Buffy Summers. With the aid of the Slayers and once I am unstoppable, I will kill all of you, save the Slayers of course, then topple the Source and rule the underworld in his place."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Faith sat next to Piper as she watched her aunt flip through the Book of Shadows.

"I thought you said there was nothing in the Book," Leo said as he sat down next to them.

"Well, now there's just a whole bunch of weirdness in it," Piper said. "Look."

"Hemlock killing spell?" Leo said perplexed on why such a spell would be in the Book. "That doesn't belong in here."

"But it does have possibilities," Faith said.

"Faith!" Leo said shocked that Faith would think that. He had thought since finding her birth family that she had put that part of her past behind her.

"I'm sorry," Faith said. "I—I don't know what I was..." Suddenly she disappeared and reappeared in the kitchen.

"Faith?" called Piper and Leo from the conservatory.

"In here, somehow," Faith said as Leo and Piper rushed in.

"You blinked," Leo said.

"She couldn't have," Piper said, even though she had to agree that had been what it looked like. Still it was impossible wasn't it; blinking was after all a warlock power. "Only warlocks do that."

"Piper, she did it," Leo said as Phoebe walked up behind them.

"Hey," Phoebe said.

"Where have you been?" Piper asked.

"Uh, brainstorming. How's it going here?" Phoebe wondered.

"Your niece is blinking," Leo said.

"I—I'm, I'm sorry, what?" Phoebe asked.

"I have to admit whatever it was, was definitely weird," Faith said, "but it was kinda fun. I was, I was in the conservatory with Aunt Piper and Leo and I was thinking about getting a soda and then suddenly, boom! Here I was."

"That is so cool," Phoebe said.

"Phoebe is right," Piper agreed.

"Except that it's a warlock's power," Leo said.

"So what?" asked Phoebe. "They're always trying to get one of ours; it's about time we got one of theirs."

"Try it, Aunt Piper, Aunt Phoebe," Faith said. "Maybe you two can do it also?"

"Okay, what do we do? Just think?" Phoebe wondered.

"And blink," Faith said.

Phoebe blinked out of the kitchen, followed by both Piper and Faith and appeared in the living room.

"Catch us if you can!" Piper called out as Leo entered the room.

"Have you tried it yet, Leo?" Faith asked. "It's a real head rush."

"Do you realize how serious this is?" Leo asked. "You're blinking, the Book is changing."

"Maybe we're blinking because of the Book," Piper asked.

Leo thought about it. He think Piper might actually be half right. The Book was an extension of the Power of Three. But at the same time it belonged to the entire family. What if the Book was changing because of Prue, Piper and Phoebe. And Faith was changing because of the Book? "The Book is changing because of you," he said. "It is an extension of you. Now Faith is likely changing because of the Book."

"Huh. I should care about that, but I don't," Piper said as she, Faith and Phoebe walked out of the room.

"This is what I was afraid of," Leo said. "Whoever's got Prue is somehow reaching you too, and the two of you are corrupting the Book. And if I am correct, Faith is being reached through the Book." He had another idea, he wondered since Faith was a Slayer did that mean that Faith had been right this had been to get at her?

"Okay, Leo, I could tell this really upsets you, but I gotta tell you, I really like this whole think-it-and-it-happens deal," Phoebe said.

"Think of the time you could save not chanting," Faith said looking at her aunts.

"Faith, Piper, Phoebe, you have to fight this," Leo said as the doorbell rang.

"Or we could answer the door," Piper said as she headed for the front door.

"For Prue's sake, stop," Leo said.

"Don't tell Aunt Piper what to do," Faith said.

Leo sighed. "Phoebe, I need your help."

"I am so tired of helping people," Phoebe said as Piper opened the door to reveal the wedding planners standing on the front porch.

"So glad you're home. We have some new floral sketches we'd like you to see," said one of the wedding planners.

"Now's not really a good time," Leo said.

"They're welcome to come in, Leo," Faith said. "Isn't that right, Aunt Piper?"

"Faith's right," Piper said.

"I revisited the dinner menu, Piper, and you are going to be thrilled," said the other wedding planner. "I have some dynamic choices that I..."

"Aunt Piper, how about …" Faith said as she whispered in Piper's ear.

"Good idea, Faith," Piper said. "We want pigs in blankets."

The wedding planners laughed.

"It's nice to see a bride who still has a sense of humor this close to the big day," said a wedding planner.

Piper smirked. "No, Faith and I want pigs in blankets," she said as she turned one of the wedding planners into a pig dressed in a blanket.

The other wedding planner screamed as Phoebe and Faith laughed.

"Marie seems very scared," Phoebe said.

"I always had her pegged as an ice queen," Piper said.

"What a great idea," Faith said as Piper used her power and the wedding planner froze, literally, into a block of ice.

"Now there's a freezing power with kick," Piper said.

"Have you guys lost your minds?" Leo asked.

"Oh, Leo, get on board," Phoebe said. "Whatever it is, this is fabulous. You can't imagine the freedom, the power."

"Phoebe, that is evil talking," Leo said. "You have to fight it."

"What did you ever see in him, Aunt Piper," Faith wondered.

Piper shrugged. "I don't know. He is kind of a stick in the mud, isn't he?

"Oh, another great idea," Faith said excitedly. "May I?"

"Be my guest," Piper said.

"Alright, think about the power of three, think about the Halliwell family magic," Leo said.

Faith smirked and waved her hand and Leo turned into a stick in a bucket of mud. "Hey, that was fun."

Phoebe smiled as she looked first at her niece and then at her sister. "Faith's right, and look at all of it that we've been missing."

"And this is just the beginning," Piper said.

"See ya, Leo," Phoebe said as she, Piper and Faith walked away from Leo.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the cavern Dantalian uncovered Prue's face. "Just the beginning," she said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Faith, Piper and Phoebe walk into the foyer and crouch next to the pig

"Oh, you know, it's your wedding," Phoebe said as she held out a knife to Piper. "Shouldn't the first kill be yours?"

"This is too easy. It's boring. I want to do something bigger," Piper said as they stood up.

"Count me in," Faith and Phoebe said.

"You know, if what's happening to us is happening to Prue..." Piper said.

"The power of three, shoot the entire family magic, can be truly amazing," Phoebe said. "We have to find her."

"We should clean house first though," Faith said.

Piper nodded as she changed the pig back into one of the wedding planners and unfroze the other.

"I'm sorry," the former pig said with a snort, "what were you saying?"

"You're fired!" Piper said.

Faith smirked and waved her hand at the door and it opened. She then waved her hand at the wedding planner and telekinetically threw them out of the house, before closing the door behind them.

"Oh, no," Phoebe said. "What are we gonna do with the stick in the mud?"

"Wait, I think we can have some fun with it," Piper said as she motioned to Faith who waved her hand at the stick in the mud and it turned back into Leo.

"What happened to Craig and Marie?" Leo asked as he looked around for the wedding planners.

"Oh, they flew right outta here," Faith said with a laugh.

"Scared the hell out of them," Piper added.

"Leo, we need to find Prue," Phoebe said.

"Good, Phoebe, focus on that. It'll help you resist the evil," Leo said hopeful he could still reach Phoebe, Piper and Faith.

"The only thing we're resisting," Phoebe said, "is the desire to rip you to pieces and have you for lunch."

"But if you help us find Prue, we'll leave you alone, for the moment," Piper said.

Leo looked toward the ceiling and then back at Piper, Phoebe and Faith.

"Oh, Leo, ignore them. What do they know?" Piper said. "They're backing a losing team."

"They're revoking my assignment," Leo said.

"What?" Piper said.

"Can they do that?" Faith wondered.

Piper shrugged. "He hasn't done anything wrong... yet."

"You did," Leo said. "You gave into evil. You've relinquished your right to a Whitelighter. I'm sorry."

"Well," Phoebe said as they watched Leo orb out.

Faith smirked. "He's gone, we're free."

"Yes," Piper and Phoebe said excitedly.

"No more obeying the rules, considering the consequences, none of that crap," Piper said.

"Time to find Prue and go for broke," Phoebe said as she headed up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Piper wondered.

"Well, I can't wreak havoc dressed like this," Phoebe said.

"Oh," Piper said she looked down at what she was wearing.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Are you sure about this, Leo?" Roland, an Elder asked when Leo had orbed to the heavens and told them of his suspicions about the entire Slayer line being corrupted as an end result to Piper and Phoebe becoming evil.

"Not one hundred percent," Leo replied.

Roland sighed. "We cannot meddle in the affairs of the Slayer, our agreement with the Powers that Be won't allow us to, save Faith, since she is or was after all a witch as well as a Slayer. But this needs to be checked on and fast. Go to Sunnydale, check on Buffy Summers. We know it will mean revealing yourself to her, but we do not have a choice."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Phoebe walked in to her room and found Cole waiting for her as he closed the door behind her. "Phoebe," he said.

Phoebe smiled. "Cole, you're okay."

"Yeah, barely," he replied.

"Any demons spot you?" Phoebe wondered.

"Just one."

"Oh no," Phoebe said worriedly.

"Don't worry," Cole said. "See, he won't be telling anybody anything."

Phoebe smiled. "The big bad Belthazor strikes again."

Cole sighed. "Not anything I'm proud of."

"Why not?" Phoebe asked as she kissed Cole. "You should be."

"Phoebe, if what I found out is true, Prue's in serious trouble," Cole said. "She's been forced to marry a warlock."

Phoebe sighed. "Figures that bitch would steal Piper's thunder."

"No, you don't understand. A high level priestess named Dantalian is rumored to have married them," Cole said as Phoebe started undoing her top. "And she's got the power to turn Prue evil and turn you evil too. That's what's happening here."

"So?" Phoebe asked as she kissed him again. "Isn't that the way you want me?"

"Mmm, no," Cole said. "That is not how I want you to be. It's not how I want us to be. Our only chance is if we're both good."

"Love is love," Phoebe said with a shrug.

"There's no such thing as evil love. It's just gratification, lust," Cole explained.

"You know what, Cole?" Phoebe said growing tired of Cole yammering on. "Your human half is kind of preachy. I think I want Belthazor back."

"He's not coming back," Cole said with a shake of his head.

"Oh, no?" Phoebe asked as she began to knee and kick Cole. "I want Belthazor!" She smiled as Cole morphed into his demonic form. "That's more like it."

"Phoebe?" came Piper's voice through the door accompanied with a knock. "What are you doing?"

"Dantalian's coming for your book. You'd better be ready," Belthazor said as he shimmered out.

"What's going on in here?" Faith wondered as she and Piper opened the door and walked into the room.

Phoebe sighed. "Nothing, unfortunately."

"We heard voices," Piper said.

"Oh, did you?" Phoebe said trying to cover for the fact that Cole had been there. "Um, I had a premonition. Must have gotten pretty loud."

Piper glanced at Faith as if to say do you believe that? Faith simply shrugged as Piper turned to face Phoebe again. "I guess."

"We gotta go. The high priestess that has Prue, supposedly she's coming here," Phoebe said as she walked out of her room.

"High prie—" Piper said as she glanced at Faith. "Must have been a hell of a premonition."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Leo orbed into the Summers home in Sunnydale, California and found Joyce Summers standing there. "Mrs. Summers?"

"What are you?" Joyce asked.

"I'm called a Whitelighter, think of me as a guardian angel for witches," Leo said. "I'm Faith's, her mother's and her aunt's Whitelighter. Something is happening to them in San Francisco. My bosses, the Elders, suggested I come check on Buffy, even though she is not a witch. I believe that end result of what is happening to Faith, Prue, Piper and Phoebe will also turn Buffy as well, evil."

Joyce sighed and nodded. "I think you might be right," she said as she motioned toward her feet. Leo looked down and sat that Joyce was barefoot and that her toes had grown extremely long and had embedded themselves in the floor. "She rooted me here. How could she do that? She's not a witch, not like her friend Willow."

"I believe," Leo said. "Because of what is happening to Faith, her mother and her aunts, as I said is spreading to Buffy though the Slayer line. Buffy likely is becoming a warlock like them and becoming evil. If the Halliwells and Faith can reverse what is happening to them, Buffy should become good again. And everything that they and Buffy did while evil should be reversed including what your daughter did to you."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the cavern Dantalian smiled. "It's time."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"So the Slayer in Sunnydale is being corrupted also," Roland said with a sigh. "And now has access to magic. Your belief that the end result might be to corrupt the Slayer line could very well be right. We want you to return to the Halliwells under the pretense that you could not leave things the way you left them. Try and get them to see what is happening to them. If they can reverse what is happening, then everything should reverse with them."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dantalian shimmered into the attic of the Halliwell Manor and picked up the Book of Shadows. "That was easy," she said.

"Too easy," Piper agreed as Faith kicked Dantalian from behind knocking her to the floor. She , Faith and Phoebe walked over to where Dantalian had crumpled. "Where's Prue?"

"I can help you," Dantalian said. "I can teach you evil. You're new at it. You don't know how to realize its full potential."

"I don't know," Faith said with a shrug. "I think we're getting the hang of it."

"Wanna see?" Phoebe said as she held a knife to Dantalian's throat.

"Where's Prue?" Piper asked again.

"Kill me and you'll never see her again," Dantalian answered.

"Hmm," Faith said with a smirk, "so maybe we should just torture you instead."

Piper stood on Dantalian's arm and turned her hand into ice as Dantalian screamed out in pain and shock.

"Faith, why don't you just shatter her hand and see what happens," Phoebe suggested.

Faith laughed and using every ounce of Slayer strength she had she brought her foot down on Dantalian's hand shattering it.

Dantalian screamed in pain again as she looked down at the stump on the end of her arm.

"Now the really weird thing is, we could do that to the other hand and then go down to your feet," Piper said.

"Actually, we could work up, piece by piece all the way to her head," Faith suggested.

"Where is Prue?" Piper asked again as Leo orbed in.

"I just couldn't leave like that, Piper," he said as Phoebe, Faith and Piper looked at him. He watched as behind them Dantalian grabbed the Book and disappeared. "What's going on?"

"Well, you just helped her escape, that's what's going on," Phoebe said.

Piper smirked and froze Leo into a solid block of ice. "Smash him," she told her niece. Faith spun and kicked the frozen Leo shattering him into a million little pieces. "Bastard."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the cavern Dantalian flipped frantically through the Book of Shadows. "Death alone will not suffice, my dear bride. Not anymore, not after this," she said as she found a page in the Book on a Dark Priestess. "Yes! Welcome to my hell."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the Manor Faith Piper and Phoebe walked walking down the stairs.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Piper wondered.

Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know. Kill innocents?"

"No, I mean about Prue," Piper said. "How are we supposed to find her without the Book?"

"Shouldn't you be mourning the loss of your beloved Leo?" Phoebe wondered.

"Oh, Phoebe, I'm serious," Piper said. "That was one pissed off priestess. And if she kills Prue, she takes the evil power of three along with her, and we won't stand a chance."

"I think Aunt Piper has a good point," Faith said. "We have to find mom."

"Wait a minute, we're warlocks, right?" Phoebe said. "We should be able to blink wherever we want."

"But we don't know where to blink to," Piper replied.

"We don't have to know where, just to who," Phoebe said. "To Prue. I mean, isn't that how Leo's orbing power worked?"

"Yeah, but his power was jammed," Piper reminded them. "He couldn't find her."

"That's because he was good, and we're evil," Faith said with a smirk.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the cavern Dantalian stood before the alter. "Through this book, weave this spell, create the pain of heaven to hell; may she suffer..." she said as Faith, Piper and Phoebe blinked in.

"Are we there yet?" Phoebe asked as she noticed Prue. "Prue."

Dantalian smiled. "Too late. I've got the book."

"So?" Faith said. "How about Aunt Piper just freeze's your head and I shatter it?"

"I may not be powerful enough to fight you yet, but they are," Dantalian said as she magically woke Prue and Zile.

"Whoa, Prue, hey, hi. You don't look so good," Piper said.

"Oh, but that's a great dress," Phoebe said admiring the black dress Prue was wearing.

"Zile, Prue," Dantalian ordered. "Eliminate them."

"Prue, ignore her. Come on, come with us. We're your sisters," Piper said. "And Faith is your daughter."

"I'm his wife, not your sister or her mother," Prue said in objection to Piper's statement as she telekinetically threw Faith, Piper and Phoebe backwards.

"Alright, I'll take that as a no," Piper said.

"We have to figure out how to get mom on our side and fast," Faith said.

"How about we get her a divorce?" Piper suggested.

Zile shapeshifted into Prue and then he and the real Prue blinked out and then reappeared in different places.

"Don't want to shatter the wrong one, now do you?" Dantalian asked.

"I love you," said one of the Prues.

"You too," said the other.

Piper shook her head. "Welcome to Planet Narcissus."

"Wait a minute. Cole said that evil can't love," Phoebe said.

"Cole?" Piper and Faith asked.

"Uh, never mind. The point is she didn't say _I love you too_ ," Phoebe said as Dantalian made a dagger appear in one of the Prues hands. Both Prues walked towards her, Faith and Piper. She pointed toward one of the Prues "Uh, she's the warlock. Freeze her!" Piper motioned and one of the Prues turned into a block of ice. "Well, shatter her. Hurry!"

"No! Zile!" Dantalian shouted as Faith kicked out shattering the frozen Prue, and subsequently breaking the spell they were under.

"What's going on?" Prue asked.

"I think we're back. All of us," Phoebe said.

"I think Aunt Phoebe is correct," Faith said as Piper froze Dantalian.

"Which means if Leo's theory on Faith being corrupted because of the Book is correct then the Book should be back as well," Piper said.

"Let's go do something good with it," Piper said as they walked over to the Book. They flipped through it till the found a spell that would vanquish Dantalian.

"Powers of light, magic of right, cast this blight into forever's night," Piper, Phoebe, Prue and Faith chanted together as Dantalian unfroze and was vanquished.

"Well, that was a wedding from hell. Although, I guess I was the first to get married after all, hmm?" Prue said with a smile.

"Oh, no. Leo," Piper said with realization that they had killed Leo.

"What?" Prue asked.

"Like what we did to your hubby mom," Faith said. "Aunt Piper froze Leo and I shattered him."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Faith, Prue, Piper and Phoebe walked into the attic of the Manor and looked around.

Faith had her arm around Piper trying, in what had been an uncharacteristic gesture in the past had since become a nice change, had her arm wrapped around Piper, who was crying over Leo's death.

"Oh, Leo," Piper said as she cried. Leo orbed in as Faith turned her to face him. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, thank god you're okay."

"Actually, it had more to do with what you guys did," Leo said. "Vanquishing Zile broke the bond and reversed all the evil you had done. And all the evil that Buffy did."

"Buffy?" Faith asked.

Leo nodded. "As I thought. Prue going evil influenced Piper and Phoebe, who influenced the Book, which influenced you. You in turn then influenced the Slayer line, which influenced Buffy. She turned evil when you did. You were right to some degree, Faith, while Dantalian was after the Power of Three, she was also after you. Turn the Slayer line evil, not only would they be powerful evil, but they would no longer go after demons and vampires, ending that threat."

"Wow," Faith said. "I probably ought to call, B, and apologize." She turned and headed out of the attic.

"What about the wedding planners?" Phoebe wondered. "I hope they don't remember what we did to them."

"Unfortunately, they will, but I doubt they'll believe what happened," Leo said.

Piper sighed. "And unfortunately you will."

"Oh, yeah, Leo, sorry we killed you," Phoebe said apologetically

Leo smiled. "It's okay, Phoebe, it wasn't the real you. Or you, Piper. Or Faith or even Buffy."

"Wasn't it? I mean, on some level it was me," Prue said. "I felt it. They didn't just plant evil inside of me, or us, for that matter. There had to be something there for them to turn to begin with."

"That doesn't make you evil, Prue. You have to choose to be evil voluntarily," Leo said.

"Wait, you said Faith's friend, Buffy. What did she do?" Piper wondered.

"I don't know everything she did in Sunnydale," Leo said. "I do know that Buffy rooted her mother to the floor of their living room."

"Wait how could she do magic?" Prue asked. "I thought you said only Faith was a witch, since she was my daughter."

"Magic is innate in the Slayer," Leo said. "The first Slayer was created using the essence of a demon. It's how they have their abilities. Buffy herself is or at least wasn't originally a witch. She could be now though. I don't know."

"You think she kept a warlock power or two when we lost them?" Phoebe wondered.

"It is possible," Leo said. "And for that reason, she's been added as my charge. The Elders want to make sure that if she did keep them, she has the guidance she needs not to use them for evil."

"I think if that is true," Piper said. "She will need more than that, she will a need a friend."

"You think Faith is ready for that?" Prue wondered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Hi, Buffy," Faith said as she talked on the phone. "I heard from Leo what happened, is your mom alright?"

"She remembers what I did and I'm grounded of course," Buffy replied. "But otherwise she's alright. So did what your friend Leo tell mom …"

"Yeah," Faith said. "Everything he told her was true. Buffy, I know that we had a rough time of everything when I was in SunnyD, but I was wondering. Could we start over?"


	4. Chapter 3: Good Bad & Cursed

**Chapter 3: The Good, The Bad & The Cursed**

Somewhere outside San Francisco Faith sat in the passenger seat of Phoebe's car as they waited for Victor Bennett; Phoebe, Prue and Piper's father and her grandfather, in a real ghost town. Faith sighed, she was just getting used to calling Prue, mom. When Phoebe had gotten a call from Victor, Prue had suggested to her baby sister that Faith accompany her and meet her grandfather.

"Dad!" Phoebe said as she got out of her car and walked toward Victor as he got out of his.

"Hello, Phoebe," Victor said as he hugged his youngest daughter. He noticed a second person sitting in her car. "Who is that?"

Phoebe smiled and motioned for Faith to join them.

As Faith got out of the car and walked toward them, Phoebe introduced her. "Dad, this is Faith, your granddaughter."

"Granddaughter?" Victor asked confused.

Phoebe sighed. "Prue had her when she was sixteen. Prue gave Faith up for adoption because she didn't think Grams would let her keep Faith. A few weeks ago Faith found out she was adopted and somehow got ahold of her original birth certificate and came looking for Prue."

"No offense," Victor said with a glance at Faith. He looked back at Phoebe. "How do you know she's Prue's?"

"Her date of birth coincides with the time Prue ran away. Also Prue herself confirmed that she had a daughter," Phoebe said. "Besides, Dad, Faith has powers … Charmed powers."

"If you all are sure," Victor said.

"We are," Phoebe said. "And that is why Faith is here, to meet you, Prue's idea."

"Well Faith," Victor said as he pulled the brunette Slayer into an embrace. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Thanks," Faith said with a glance at Phoebe.

"Alright, dad, spill it," Phoebe said as she saw how much Faith wanted out of the embrace. "What are we doing here?"

"What, can't a father spend a little quality time with his daughter?" Victor asked as he released Faith. "Especially after all the time we've been apart."

"Alright, I take after you, okay," Phoebe said. "I've inherited all of your tricks, especially your fine art of fibbing."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Victor said. "Tell me a little bit more about this Leo fellow anyway. How did he and Piper meet?"

"Oh, it was a couple of years ago at the house. He was our handyman," Phoebe explained. She saw Faith bite her lip to keep from laughing. She could understand why since Faith knew that the handyman act was his way of not revealing to his charges that he was a Whitelighter till it was time."

"Piper's marrying a handyman?" Victor asked shocked.

Well, no, he isn't really a handyman. Wait, you do know..." Phoebe said.

"All I know is he's a nice enough guy who seems to know the big bad secret," Victor said. "Trust me, it's a lot better for a mortal to know he's marrying a witch before the wedding instead of after. Wish I had."

"You really wish you had known about Grandma Patty beforehand?" Faith asked.

"Yes I do," Victor said as Faith heard a noise come from one of the buildings.

"What?" Victor asked.

"Slayer senses are tingling," Faith said as Victor looked at her. She had forgotten he didn't know about her being a Slayer. "It's a long story."

"What are you talking about?" Victor asked before looking at Phoebe. "Does she get premonitions like you, or whatever you call it? Alright, I confess. I brought you, Phoebe, here hoping maybe you could give me a little bit of your help. I just didn't know how to ask."

Phoebe sighed. "Magical help? Dad..."

"Well, this place seemed like such a good investment," Victor explained. "Too good, actually. Made me think that all the stories were true."

"Maybe we should bite," Faith suggested. "Especially with my Slayer senses tingling.

Phoebe nodded. "What stories?"

"Ghost stories," Victor explained. "Something's been keeping people from investing and razing this place for over a hundred years."

"So, what, you wanted me to do a little supernatural inspection?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, yeah. I thought you could do a little Feng Shui on the place and maybe see if there's anything going on," Victor suggested.

"Okay, first of all, I don't do Feng Shui, and secondly, I can't always get a premonition when I want to," Phoebe said as she heard a noise coming from a building. "Faith, did you hear that?"

"Yeah," Faith said, "you too?"

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah."

"Heard what?" Victor asked.

Faith and Phoebe turned at the sound of a glass bottle being smashed.

"Okay, you didn't hear that?" Phoebe asked.

Suddenly, a cowboy by the name of Bo was thrown out of a saloon followed by a second man.

"You're a dead man, Bo," said the second man.

"Faith, can you see them?" Phoebe asked.

Faith nodded. "Yeah."

"See who?" Victor asked.

"Hey! Hey, what's going on?" Phoebe yelled at the men down the street.

"Nobody crosses Mr. Sutter," said the second man as he hit Bo in the face.

Bo flew back right through Phoebe. He turned and ran off as the second man shot at him seconds before they disappeared.

"Okay I think this is one hundred …" Faith started to say before she noticed that Phoebe had a bleeding lip. "Aunt Phoebe, your lip is bleeding."

"I wouldn't buy this place, dad," Phoebe said as she dabbed at her lip with a handkerchief. "Really, really bad Feng Shui."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Prue walked down the stairs and turned towards the dining room. As she looked at the table she noticed something. She looked to her middle sister as she said, "Uh, wait a minute. We have one too many place settings."

"No we don't," Piper said.

"Okay, uh, you, me, Leo, Phoebe, Faith and dad. That's six, we have eight."

"So?"

"So who are the seventh and eighth for?" Prue asked.

"One is for Buffy," Piper said. "She's currently upstairs with Leo working on identifying her powers. And the other is maybe, um, mum." She noticed Prue give her a look. "What? It's my wedding. At least she could be here in spirit, if nothing else."

"Yes, she can be," Prue said as she hugged Piper.

Just at that moment Buffy blinked in with Leo. "Wow that is so cool," she said. "And you think that is only one of the powers I retained?"

"Yes," Leo said as he looked around and noticed the table. "Wow, looks great. When do we eat?"

"Leo, can't you see we're having a sister moment?" Piper asked.

"Oh, sorry. Do you want us to go?" Leo asked.

Piper shook her head. "No, I want you to help. This is your rehearsal dinner too, you know."

"So, Leo, you nervous?" Prue asked. "I mean, only one more week before dum, dum, dum-dum."

"Well, as long as no demons come bursting through that door, until them, I am fine," Leo said.

"Mom! Aunt Piper!" came Faith's voice from the area of the front door.

Prue, Piper, Leo and Buffy turned to see Victor and Faith flanking Phoebe as they walked through the front door.

Piper glanced at Leo. "You had to jinx it."

"Buffy?" Faith said catching sight of the blonde Slayer.

"Surprise," Piper said. "I invited her down, Faith."

"Wow," Faith said a little shocked but happy that Buffy made the trip.

"So, what happened?" Prue asked.

"Oh, it's nothing, I'm fine," Phoebe said. "I just need an aspirin."

"Faith?" Piper said.

"Victor, wanted Aunt Phoebe to get a premonition on this ghost town we met him in. We got a lot more than that," Faith said. "We saw I think real ghosts."

"Two cowboys actually who were in the midst of a bar fight, Bo and some other guy," Phoebe explained. "I didn't catch his name," she looked at Faith who shook her head indicating she hadn't either.

"I think I speak for both myself and Aunt Phoebe that we think he was the bad guy," Faith said.

"Sweetheart, I never would have asked you to meet me there if I had any idea," Victor said apologetically as he looked at his youngest daughter.

"It's fine, dad. Really, don't worry about it," Phoebe said.

"Here, let me take care of that," Leo said as he tried to heal Phoebe.

"No, I'm alright," Phoebe said. "Dad, why don't you go to the porch and get those town files. You know, maybe there's something in them that can help us."

"Alright," Victor said as he went back outside.

Phoebe sighed. "Dad doesn't know that Leo is a Whitelighter."

"What?" Prue and Leo asked shocked that Victor didn't know.

"That was my reaction," Faith said. "Then Aunt Phoebe explained on the way back about grandma Patty and her Whitelighter."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to tell him, but considering mom had an affair with her Whitelighter, I didn't think he'd be really receptive to the idea," Piper said.

"Wow," Buffy said as she glanced at Faith. "Makes our problems seem to pale in comparison."

"Piper, he's gonna kill me when he finds out," Leo said with a sigh.

"Probably you and me both, Leo," Faith said. "He heard me mention the Slayer bit."

"Oh," Buffy said. "Yeah, that's not going to be an easy conversation. I remember when I told mom.

Victor walked back in through the front door carrying a box of files. "Just a lot of investment stuff and background info. I don't see how it's gonna help you find out what happened."

"Well, you're the one that called it a ghost town, and since Bo fell through me and I ended up with the same split lip that he had," Phoebe said.

"I think Faith is right, sounds like a ghost to me," Prue said.

"I just hope its not a male-o-whatsit spirit, because I don't really want to be possessed again," Buffy said as Victor looked at her. "I'm like Faith, I think she probably said she would tell you later?"

Victor sighed and nodded.

"Male-o-whatsit," Prue said, "oh you mean a malevolent spirit."

"It can't be ghost anyways," Leo said. "Ghosts don't bleed."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Ahem."

"I mean, so I've read in books. Obviously it's not my area of expertise," Leo said as he glanced at Victor.

"Mine, neither," Victor said. "What do you say we let the supernatural stuff to the pros and go grab a bite?"

"I don't know, Mr. Bennett," Leo said.

"Oh," Prue said as a smile graced both hers and Piper's faces. She patted Leo on the back.

"Victor, please," Victor told Leo. "It's time you called me Victor, son. Come on." He stopped and looked back at Faith. "And I would prefer grandpa if you don't mind?"

Faith sighed. "Give me time," she said. "While I am used to calling Prue, mom and Piper and Phoebe aunts. It still is a little weird at times. Is that okay?"

"Sure," Victor said as he led Leo out the front door.

Piper sighed. "Great, now I'm dead."

"Alright, why don't we just focus on Phoebe and try and figure out what happened," Prue suggested.

"I'll get the book," Prue said as she headed for the stairs.

"I'll get it and maybe a drink," Piper said as she moved past Prue and up the stairs.

"You don't mind if I use your phone?" Buffy suggested. "I want to call Giles and see if he and good old doofus can't help out from their end."

"Doofus?" Prue asked.

"That new Watcher I told you about, mom," Faith said with a sigh.

"The one that wanted to ship you to England?" Prue asked as Faith nodded. She looked at Buffy. "Which you and I should talk about. I want to find out from other than just Faith what all went down."

"Of course," Buffy said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy sat next to the phone twenty minutes later waiting for Giles to call back. She noticed Faith approach her.

"Mom and Aunt Piper looking through their Book," Faith said. "So how are things with your mom?"

Buffy let out a sigh. "I was grounded, still am actually. But mom let me come for this and I will be able to come next week for your aunt's wedding. Otherwise it's school, patrol and home. No Bronze, no shopping, and I only see Willow and Xander at school or if they wind up going with me on patrol."

"Are they mad?" Faith asked.

"About everything that had happened?" Buffy wondered as Faith nodded. "Not as much as they used to be before you left. But I explained things and hopefully when they see how you are doing now. They might come around."

Just then the phone rang and Faith answered it. "Halliwell Residence, Faith speaking."

"Faith," came Giles voice from the phone.

"Hey, G-Man," Faith said with a smile.

"I wish you wouldn't call me that."

"Sorry," Faith said. "Habit. What do you got?"

"I found records on the town you mentioned. Or rather what records there were as all record keeping stopped in 1873."

"What?" Buffy asked, she was listening also as Faith held the phone between them so they could both hear. "How is that possible, Giles?"

"From what I've learned," Giles said. "The town I believed was cursed into a time loop to relive over and over certain series of events till the loop was broken."

"Why would they be stuck in this loop?" Faith wondered.

"Possibly some form of great evil or maybe some great injustice happened."

"So we have to right whatever went wrong?" Buffy asked. "Great now we're Sam Beckey."

"Sam Beckey?" Giles asked confused at the cultural reference.

"Sam Beckett," Faith explained. "Was a character from a TV show that jumped back in forth through time fixing whatever had originally went wrong."

"Ah."

"Thank's," Faith said, "G-m … Giles." She hung up the phone and then led Buffy into the living room. They explained to Prue, Piper and Phoebe what Giles had said.

"So that is probably why this is happening to me," Phoebe said before explaining about a bruise she had just found. "Our job is to right the wrong."

"Yeah, well, we better do it before your symptoms get any worse," Prue said as the doorbell rang. "I'll …"

"Already got it," Faith said as she opened the front door to find a man standing there holding a bouquet of flowers.

The man looked at Faith and frowned. "The Halliwells do still live here?"

"Yes," Faith said as he pushed his way past her. She too began to frown.

"So is Phoebe home?" he asked.

Faith spun around with a roundhouse kick and sent the man flying across the room. He landed on a small table as Phoebe, Prue, Buffy and Piper came to find out what the commotion was.

"What the... Cole, what...?" Phoebe said as he hurried over to the man, Cole.

"Phoebe, hi," Cole said. "Oh, phew." He held out the flowers that she pushed away. "These are for you."

"Okay three questions," Prue said. "Why did you attack him, Faith?" She looked at Cole. "What the hell are you doing here? And do you have some kind of death wish?"

"He's a demon," Faith said. "And I'm a Slayer, Mom."

"Mom?" Cole asked confused.

"Yes, mom," Prue said. "It's complicated, Cole. Now answer my question."

Cole sighed. "I told Phoebe last week that I wasn't giving up on her and I, I meant it."

"You talked to Phoebe?" Piper asked before looking at her baby sister. "He talked to you?"

"Uh-huh," Cole said with a nod.

"You said that he was alive," Prue said with a sigh. "You never said that he was back."

"It didn't matter because as I told him, I don't want anything to do with him anymore," Phoebe said.

Buffy rolled her eyes as she looked at Faith. "Seems like I'm not the only one that falls for guys that I'm not supposed to."

Faith laughed. "Yeah."

Cole frowned as he looked toward Buffy. His demon half was telling him that she too was a Slayer.

"Oh, well, in that case," Prue said as she was about to use her powers on Cole.

"Hey, hey, hey!" her eldest sister. "I just set that table. We don't have time to buy a new one before dinner."

"I'm not gonna use my powers against you anyway," Cole said. "In fact, I'm never gonna use them again, ever. It keeps me from being evil."

"No, you will always be evil, you're a demon," Prue said.

"She has a point," Buffy agreed.

Cole sighed. "Half-demon," he said. "My human half …"

"Human half," Buffy asked. "I didn't know demons could have a human half. I know they can look human since vampires do after all when not in gameface. That's a new one."

"can suppress it if..." Cole concluded as he noticed Phoebe's injuries. "Phoebe, you're hurt. What happened?"

"You know what, Cole? It's none of your business. So, why don't you do yourself a favor and just get..." Phoebe said as she received a premonition of a cowboy shooting Bo.

"Aunt Phoebe?" Faith said as Phoebe fell into her arms. "Buffy, help me."

Buffy moved to Faith and Phoebe and helped Faith to move Phoebe to the couch.

"Phoebe, what happened?" Prue asked as she, Piper and Cole followed.

Faith frowned as she looked down at her hand, it was covered in blood. "Mom, call for Leo."

"Why?" Prue asked before noticing Faith's hand.

"I think Aunt Phoebe has been shot," Faith said.

"Leo!" Prue called out.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Leo asked as he orbed in and spotted Cole.

"Forget about him, Leo. Phoebe's been shot," Prue said.

"Shot?" Leo asked. "How did that happen?"

"There's no time to explain. Can you heal her?" Prue asked as Leo started to heal Phoebe.

"Where's dad?" Piper asked, though she was not sure she wanted to know.

"Seething probably," Leo said. He frowned, for some reason he was having trouble healing Phoebe.

"What's the matter, Leo?" Cole asked. "Why isn't it working?"

Leo shrugged. "I don't know. Phoebe, you gotta tell me exactly how this happened."

Phoebe shrugged. "Um, I don't, I don't really know. I had a-a premonition and I felt Bo get shot and then I came out of it."

"Leo, can you heal her?" Faith wondered.

Leo shook his head. "No, because Phoebe wasn't the one that was shot. Bo was."

"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked as she held up Faith's hand to show him the blood. "She's bleeding."

"I know, but it's more like a psychic echo," Leo explained. "Phoebe is linked to Bo somehow. Whatever he feels, whatever happens to him happens to her."

"Which means Bo must be magical too," Cole suggested. "The only way they can be linked is through their magic."

"I agree," Leo said.

"We have to find Bo," Cole suggested. "Heal him. It's the only way."

"Well, he's been cursed into a time loop along with the rest of the town," Piper said. "And we don't know how to get there, let alone where there is."

"Well, it's gotta be a parallel plane existing in the same physical space as the town," Cole said.

"You know, I don't think that we need any demonic input right now," Prue said.

"I agree," Buffy said.

"If I can help save Phoebe's life, you sure as hell do," Cole said.

Leo held up his hand to forestall any more argument from the sisters or Buffy and Faith. "We're listening."

"Look, I move through different planes all the time," Cole suggested. "It's how I've been hiding from the Source. Shouldn't be any problem to shimmer into Bo's plane and bring him back here so you can heal him."

"You said you don't use your powers anymore," Piper reminded Cole.

Coles smiled as if he knew something they didn't. "Shimmering isn't a lethal power."

"Uh, why don't you just take Leo with you and you can heal Bo there?" Phoebe suggested.

"I can't. I'm not allowed to work with a demon," Leo reminded them.

"Fine," Prue said. "I'll go."

"No, mom," Faith said. "Buffy and I will go. We don't know if your powers would be affected and you might need them. Our Slayer powers might not be affected. If two of us can be Slayers when there is only supposed to be one. Then it leads to reason that maybe we can keep them in the past as well for the same reason."

Prue sighed. "Alright."

"Prue," Piper said not liking the idea of either her sister or her niece let alone Buffy going with Cole.

"I don't want to leave this up to him," Prue said. "Besides Faith has a very good argument."

"Well, okay, what if something goes wrong and both Faith and Buffy get stuck in the time loop and they don't get back before midnight?" Piper asked.

"It's not the time loop I'm worried about," Prue said. "Look, why don't you and Leo go to the town, see if you can find anything there to help break the curse. And I'll stay here with Phoebe."

"Play nice, you three," Phoebe said with a glance at Faith, Buffy and Cole.

"Believe me," Cole said. "I do not have a death wish and I know that even if I managed to do anything to one of them, the other would take me down quickly." He looked to Faith and Buffy, "Gotta hold my hands."

"This already sucks," Buffy said as she and Faith took his hands and he shimmered out with them.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Cole shimmered in with Buffy and Faith into the ghost town. This one unlike the one Phoebe, Faith and Victor had visited was populated with people.

"Oh, wow," Buffy said, "it worked."

Cole smiled. "You doubted me?"

"Yeah, well, for all we know you were gonna take us..." Faith said as they heard a gun shot and Cole pinned them against a wall.

"Welcome to the Wild, Wild West," he said.

"Alright, just-just so we're clear," Faith said, "Buffy and I are in charge here. You're just our ride."

"Fine with me. What's your plan?" Cole asked.

"Find Bo," Faith said.

"Lay low," Buffy suggested as Faith nodded in agreement.

"That's a plan?" Cole asked.

"Yeah," Faith said. "You got a better one?"

Cole looked Buffy and Faith up and down. "Maybe, but first I think we better find something a little less conspicuous to wear."

"What did you have in mind?" Buffy wondered.

"Yeah. Nothing you're gonna like though," Cole said as a couple of cowboys carry a dead cowboy out of a building.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

A half an hour later Buffy, Faith and Cole walked into the salon dressed in the clothes of the era. Cole and Faith both wore the clothes of a cowboy, while Buffy wore a dress.

"Still think you should have worn that pretty, little red dress drying on the line," Cole said looking toward Faith.

Faith rolled her eyes. "You can ask B, I don't do dresses."

"She really doesn't," Buffy agreed. "Faith is more of a leather type of girl. She's the complete opposite of me."

"Now remember," Faith said, "we're not getting involved. We don't know if these people will be reinserted into our dimension or if they will live out the rest of their lives here. So minimal impact."

"What'll it be?" the bartender asked as they walked up to the bar.

Buffy and Faith looked to Cole.

"Whiskey," Cole said, "three glasses and leave the bottle."

"Passing through?" the bartender asked as he poured the drinks.

"Maybe," Cole said.

"Maybe if you're not, you ought to consider it," the bartender offered. "Things are getting pretty dangerous around here. Friendly advice. Wet your whistle, get back on your horses, and move on as fast as you can."

"What's so dangerous?" Buffy asked.

The bartender smiled at Buffy. "It's nothing to concern your pretty little head about."

Buffy frowned as she stepped menacingly towards the bar.

"Lay low, remember?" Cole whispered.

"Better let her," Faith whispered back. "One thing B hates is being called little."

"You were saying?" Buffy asked with a growl.

The bartender quickly rethought what he said as he looked at Buffy. "There's some trouble between a powerful man in town..."

"Sutter?" Faith asked.

"How do you know about Sutter?" the bartender wondered.

"B's not the only one who knows her way around a bar fight," Faith answered. "Now tell us what's going on."

"One of Sutter's men just got killed and now there's gonna be hell to pay," the bartender explained as three men walked into the saloon. As everyone turned to look at them they saw Sutter following close behind.

"Where is he?" Sutter asked. "Just so you know, I've already taken the liberty to print up the evening edition." He held up a newspaper with the headline _Half-breed to Die at Sundown_. "Just so you know how serious this is. All the news that's fit to print." He turned to face a woman by the name of Isabel. "You know where your little brother's hiding, now don't you?"

Cole blinked and looked at Buffy and Faith and then back at Isabel.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"Slayer," Cole answered. "She's a Slayer."

"That doesn't make sense," Faith said. "B would never have been called if there was a Slayer still alive."

"Unless," Buffy said, "whatever made us Slayers thought she was dead when she like the rest of the town was caught in this time loopy thing."

"Even if I did, I'd never tell you," Isabel said to Sutter. "I'm not afraid of you, Mr. Sutter."

"Well, if you were smart, you'd be," Sutter said. "Of course your kind are not, are they?"

Buffy started for Sutter and Isabel.

"Hold it," Cole reminded Buffy as he laid a hand on her shoulder. "Plan is not to get involved."

Sutter looked toward a man by the name of Cal.

"I haven't seen Bo, Mr. Sutter, I swear. Not since he took off," Cal said.

"You know, you lie to me again, Cal, and I'll do worse than this," Sutter told Cal as held up a whip. One of his men stabbed Cal's hand with a knife.

Buffy broke out of Cole's grip and rushed Sutter's man pushing him away from Cal. She ripped the hem of her dress and wrapped it around Cal's hand. "What is wrong with you people?" she asked.

"Well, well, well. What do we got here?" Sutter asked.

Cole looked at Faith who sighed. "B?" she said.

"Lady, I don't know who you are or where you come from but you obviously don't have the slightest idea who you're dealing with," Sutter told Buffy.

"Oh, please," Buffy said, "you know how many …" she was say vampires but quickly amended it …" people have said that to me."

A cowboy stood up and moved towards Buffy. "I usually don't hit women …"

"Then you're in luck," Faith said as she walked up to the man and hit the man square in the face. "I don't have the same problem." As he fell she grabbed his gun and pointed it at another man who held a rifle. She heard the sound of a rifle being cocked behind her and with a quick glance over her shoulder she noticed Cole had his rifle out. "Drop it."

"We'll deal with these three later, after we take out Bo," Sutter told his men.

"This ain't over," one of Sutter's men said. He looked pointedly at Faith who still held his gun. "You and me, we got a score to settle."

"One of you know where he's at," Sutter said. "And if you don't tell me, I'm gonna burn this town to the ground looking for him." He followed by his men turned and left the saloon.

"So much for laying low," Cole said with a sigh.

"Yeah," Faith and Buffy agreed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"I never expected there to be other Slayers," Isabel said as she, Buffy, Faith and Cole exited the saloon. "Or they would be working with a demon."

"It's against our better judgement," Buffy explained. "But he was essential for this mission."

"So," Faith said, "what's Sutter's deal?"

"He's in tight with the railroads," Isabel explained. "He came here a couple of months ago promising to bring the tracks through and make it more than just an old mining town."

"In exchange for what?" Faith wondered.

"A piece of everything. The mines, the bank, the newspaper," Isabel told them. "When folks started resisting, his boys took over. At first everybody stood up to them, but after they killed the sheriff. Cowards."

"Why's Sutter after your brother?" Cole asked.

"Because Bo wouldn't back down," Isabel said. "He's like me a fighter, he just fights other things than the forces of darkness. Anyways he kept on fighting, trying to get everybody to take back the town."

"So he knows?" Buffy asked as she looked at Faith.

Isabel nodded. "He was there when I was called. Refused to let me fight alone, despite the Watcher's objections to the contrary."

"Isabel, we know that Bo is injured," Faith said. "We know that he's been shot. We can help you, but you have to trust us."

"I do," Isabel said. "Bo said you'd come."

"How's that again?" Cole asked.

"Bo, he saw it in one of his dreams," Isabel explained as a smile crept on her face. "He said that three strangers, two of them Slayers and one a demon, would come, so, um, I knew."

"But you said he doesn't fight the …" Buffy said confused on why Bo would have powers if he didn't fight.

"He don't," Isabel said. "Well no more than to help me of course. His gift is why I am the longest living Slayer on record. He inherited it from our father, who was a great medicine man. His name was Soaring Crow."

"Was?" Faith asked.

"He died when my very first vampire attacked us," Isabel explained. "When we moved here, my Watcher didn't want Bo talking about gift. He said the secret had to be protected. Besides magic is considered evil in the white man's world."

Buffy nodded. "We know what you mean. Our Watcher drilled the same thing into us."

"Come. I'll take you to Bo. Come," Isabel said as she led them over to four horses.

"Where'd you get the horses?" Cole wondered.

"I told you. I was expecting you," Isabel said.

"You know, I still say we eliminate the threat first, kill Sutter," Cole suggested. "Probably break the curse anyway."

"We don't know that would work," Faith said.

"I agree, which is why we need to get to Bo first," Buffy added.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the present Piper and Leo were looking around the ghost town.

"I don't know what we're supposed to be looking for," Piper said.

"Well, we gotta keep looking, find something that might help us break the curse," Leo told her.

Piper sighed. "Like what? There's nothing here but spiders, lizards, and that stupid old crow."

"Oh, come on, let's keep looking," Leo said. "After all, we got a rehearsal dinner to get back to."

"There's not gonna be a rehearsal dinner or a wedding if we don't find a way to save Phoebe," Piper said as a crow landed on roof of the saloon.

"What is it?" Leo asked noticing that Piper was looking toward the saloon.

"Faith and Phoebe said Bo got into a fight in a bar, right?" Piper asked. "So that would be the saloon."

Leo nodded. "Makes sense. It's a western."

"So it's always the saloon," Piper said as they headed into the building. She walked behind the bar.

"Hankins Nerve Tonic, calms raw nerves," Leo said looking at a bottle. "Think I should bring a bottle back for your dad?"

Piper shook her head. "I don't think that'll do it. There's nothing, there's nothing here. Great brainstorm, huh?"

"Actually," Leo said as he noticed a newspaper in remarkably good condition for being two hundred years old, "I think it was. Look."

Piper walked over to Leo and picked up the newspaper. "Half-breed to die at sundown?"

"On that same date, 1873," Leo said with a nod. "Read who's gonna die."

"Bo Light Feather," Piper said with realization that they did not have as much time as they had thought.

"We've got to find a way to warn Faith, Buffy and Cole that they don't have until midnight," Leo said.

"Which means neither does Phoebe," Piper said with a sigh.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Prue sat next to Phoebe who was resting against Prue. "Thanks, dad," Prue said as Victor walked into the living room with a glass of water. She took it and nudged her sister up. "Slowly."

"What is it?" Victor asked noticing a look on Phoebe's face.

"It's nothing," Phoebe said.

"What is it?" Prue asked. "Now is not the time to be protecting dad."

"I have to agree with Prue," Victor said. "I didn't come back into your lives just to be kept in the dark. I'm your dad, you can tell me anything."

Phoebe started to shake as she finally let her fears out. "I'm dying."

"What?" Prue asked.

"I can feel what's happening to me," Phoebe said as she looked at her eldest sister. "It's like a ... something that you can feel deep inside of you. I—I can't explain it."

"Piper, Faith and I are not gonna let that happen," Prue said.

"I am not gonna let that happen," Victor added just as Leo and Piper orbed in.

"How is she?" Piper asked.

Victor looked at Prue as if to say the less they know the less they'll worry. He looked toward Piper and Leo. "She's gonna be fine."

"Is she?" Piper wondered looking at her older sister.

"He's right," Prue agreed reluctantly.

"Okay, we have to hurry," Piper said. "We found out Bo dies at sundown, except I don't think Faith and Buffy knows that."

"But we have an idea how to let her know," Leo said as he looked at Phoebe. "Phoebe, if you're getting visions from Bo, maybe he can get one from you."

"I don't understand," Phoebe said with some confusion.

"Phoebe, if you can will yourself to get a premonition about Bo's death," Piper explained, "he might be able to see it too, and then he can tell Faith, Buffy and Cole that they don't have as much time as they think they do."

"But I thought you said you couldn't always get premonitions when you wanted," Victor asked.

"She can't," Prue said. "Well she hasn't been able to before anyways." She looked toward her baby sister. "Doesn't mean you can't though. You have to try."

Piper handed Phoebe the newspaper and Phoebe held it against herself.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Back in 1873 Buffy, Faith and Cole followed Isabel toward Bo's hideout.

"Any idea what we should say to him?" Cole asked.

"We're not gonna say anything," Faith said. "Buffy and I'll do the talking."

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to be nice to me," Cole said with a sigh. It was obvious to him that Prue had told Faith what he had done before Phoebe's fake vanquish.

"Really," Faith said with a laugh. "It's funny you should say that, considering how many times you actually tried to kill my mom and my aunts."

"That's all in the past, Faith," Cole said.

"Yeah, after all this is done, you need to leave us alone," Faith said. "Otherwise, Buffy and I'll do to you what mom, Aunt Piper and Phoebe couldn't do, which is slay you."

"Then that's what you both are gonna have to do because it's the only way you are them are gonna keep me away from Phoebe," Cole said.

Isabel turned and looked at Buffy, Faith and Cole. "Are you guys ready to go in? Uh, something wrong?"

"No," Buffy said. "Just Slayer related stuff. Trying to keep our pet demon on his leash till we're done and don't need his help any longer."

"Pet demon?" Cole said with a roll of his eyes as they walked into the small building before them.

Faith, Buffy and Cole quickly recognized that the building used to be at one time a church.

"Is it okay for you to be in here?" Faith wondered.

"Yeah," Cole replied. "Only demons physically repulsed by the notion of being in here are vampires. For me to not be in here there would have had to have been gargoyles outside."

"Gargawatsits?" Buffy asked. "You mean the stone statues?"

"That's when they are asleep," Cole explained. "They wake to ward off evil."

Isabel led them toward a corner where Bo lay holding a cloth against his wound. "He's very weak," she said. "I tried to pull the bullet out but it's in too deep. Bo. Bo. How are you doing?"

"What's the matter with you?" Bo asked looking at Buffy, Faith and Cole. "Who the hell are they?"

"It's okay," Isabel explained. "They've come to help."

"Just like in your vision, remember?" Faith said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Bo said.

"Bo, I told them," Isabel explained to her brother.

"Too much apparently," Bo said. "We don't need your help. Just leave now."

"Bo," Faith said, "Buffy and I are Slayers like your sister. And my aunt gets visions like you; she had one of you getting shot, alright? We're here to help you."

"And help her," Cole added.

"It's a trick. Sutter sent you. I know he did," Bo said as he pulled out a knife.

"No, they stood up to Sutter," Isabel said. "You should have seen it."

"Just get out of here!" Bo yelled.

"We're not going anywhere," Cole said.

"I know that look. Sutter's got it too," Bo said looking straight at Cole. "You're evil. I can sense it."

"Alright, then look at us," Buffy said. "You can't say …"

"Actually he can," Isabel said. "Your Watcher didn't tell you the origins of the First Slayer?"

"No," Faith said.

"The First Slayer was embued with the essence of a demon. Bo can sense it in us as well." She looked to Bo. "They think that something Sutter is going to do will trigger a curse. The kind that father used to speak about."

Bo looked at Buffy and Faith. "You two are truly Slayers?"

"We are," Buffy said. "We can't tell you where were from or how we exist with your …"

Bo looked to Isabel who nodded.

Isabel walked across the room and picked up an iron candelabra and brought it over to Faith and Buffy.

Buffy took the candelabra and easily bent it before handing it to Faith, who unbent it.

"The first thing we need to do," Faith said as she sat the candelabra down, "is get that bullet out of you. The thing though is how."

"Leo said your mom had telewatsit," Buffy said, "maybe you do too?"

"Possibly," Faith said. "We have yet to find out my power. You could possibly have it too though."

"How do you figure?" Buffy wondered. "All I got was one power so far."

"Leo said you might have gotten more than that."

"It's worth a try," Buffy said. "What do I have to do?"

"Concentrate," Cole suggested. "Picture the bullet in your mind, picture pulling it out of Bo with just your mind."

Buffy listened to Cole as she knelt down beside Bo. "This could hurt," she said. She did as Cole instructed and slowly the bullet floated back up and out of the wound.

Bo screamed in pain as he received a premonition Sutter whipping him before shooting him in front of Isabel. "I believe you."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"It's okay, you're okay," Piper said as Phoebe cried hysterically. "Take a deep breath."

"I saw what they're gonna do to Bo," Phoebe said. "It was horrible!"

"Do you think he saw it too?" Prue wondered.

"I know he did," Phoebe said. "I felt him. Nobody did anything. They didn't help him. Nobody did anything."

"So what do we do now?" Victor asked.

"We wait," Prue said. "It's up to Faith, Buffy and Cole."

"Oh, so now I'm supposed to trust a demon and a total stranger alongside a granddaughter that before today I knew nothing about?" Victor asked angrily.

"You know, as much as I hate to say this, Cole loves Phoebe," Leo said. "He took a huge risk to come here and try and prove himself to her and he will do whatever it takes to save her life."

"He's right," Phoebe agreed.

"How can you be so sure?" Victor asked.

"Because he loves me as much as I love him," Phoebe said finally admitting her feelings to them.

"And Faith has demonstrated in the last couple weeks that she too will do anything for this family," Prue said. "And from what Faith has told me, Buffy doesn't know how to quit. You can be sure that they will do everything to make sure that Phoebe does not die."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"You learn fast," Isabel said as she watched Faith with the gun she had taken off one of Sutter's men earlier that day.

"Thanks," Faith said. "Though I never expected to be using a gun. Crossbow, stake, bow, sure, gun no."

"Neither did I," Isabel said. "But I learned quickly that you have to do what you must to protect yourself."

"Sutter's men just showed up," Cole said. "We better get Bo out of here."

"What? How did they find us?" Isabel asked.

"We must have been followed," Cole suggested. "I'll shimmer him back to Leo, then come back for you three "

"No," Buffy said as she stood up from next to Bo, whom she had been attending to while Isabel taught Faith how to use a gun.

"What do you mean, no?" Cole asked. "He dies, Phoebe dies."

"I know," Buffy said. "And I know that I don't want Faith to lose any more family." She looked directly at Faith. "Like your Watcher."

Faith thought back to her Watcher, Diana, and sighed. She didn't like to think about what Kakistos had done to her. But Buffy was right after her drunken and abusive parents, Diana had been as close as could come to being a mother to her.

"It'll save Phoebe," argued Cole.

Buffy nodded. "Again I know. But there's more than just Phoebe's life on the line here. We have to break the curse by sundown, otherwise this entire town is doomed to repeat the same day over and over again."

"Are you seriously telling me you're willing to sacrifice Faith's aunt's life for a town full of cowboys?" Cole asked.

"Like I just said I don't intend for Faith to lose any more family," Buffy explained. "Besides I can't just walk away from this."

"Neither can I," Faith added, "and if you truly want to prove you are good, especially to my mom and my aunts, you won't either."

"We know you're in there, Bo," called one of Sutter's men from outside. "Come out with your hands up and nobody gets hurt. What's it gonna be, Bo?"

"Alright, how do we break the curse?" Cole asked.

"Don't know," Faith said, "but I think Buffy will agree that it hinges on keeping Bo alive."

Bo shook his head. "No, it doesn't. The curse isn't about me or about Sutter. It's about them. The townspeople who stood there and watched me die. The only way is for me to give myself up."

"No," Isabel shouted.

"It's okay, Isabel," Bo said as he looked at Faith. "Have faith."

Faith laughed at the pun.

"And they'll kill you," Cole said.

"Maybe. This curse came from my father's people," Bo explained. "I understand that now. It's meant to heal, to teach the townspeople to act without shame. I have to give them that chance."

"Helping them to save you saves themselves," Buffy said in understanding.

Bo opened the door and white doves flew out as he raised his hands in surrender.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Sutter's men rode into town dragging Bo behind them. Not far behind them was Faith, Buffy, Cole and Isabel.

"I want you all to see what happens when people cross me," Sutter said as Bo is led to him. He pushed Bo to the ground.

"No!" Isabel shouted. "No!"

"Don't!" Faith said. "He knows what he's doing."

Bo stood back up and Sutter started to whip him.

"What's the matter, boy?" Sutter asked as he continued to whip Bo. "You too stupid to scream? I want you to beg for mercy."

"What are you people doing?" Buffy asked. "Look at him. He has the courage to fight Sutter for all of you. You can just stand there and watch him die. You have to do something! You can take him down!"

"Sutter can't take all of you out," Cole added. "You need to do what's right!"

"You cannot just stand by and let this happen," Faith said. "Stand up to him! Don't be scared."

"Nobody crosses me," Sutter said as he pulled out his gun and aimed it at Bo just as the bartender shot it out of his hand.

"I think you just oughta leave Bo alone, Sutter," the bartender said.

"You just signed your own death certificate," Sutter said.

Cal aimed his own gun at Sutter. "If you wanna kill Bo, you're gonna have to kill me too."

Every one of the townspeople point their guns at Sutter.

"Are you okay?" Isabel asked as she ran over to Bo. She barely had time to check on her brother before Sutter grabbed her by the hair. "Aah!"

"Anybody comes after me and she's dead," Sutter said.

"Now can we do something?" Cole whispered to Buffy and Faith.

"Oh, yeah," Buffy said. She ran down a nearby alleyway and blinked out.

Sutter let go of Isabel, jumped on his horse and rode off. Everyone chases blinked in on Sutter's horse and using her Slayer strength she pushed him off the horse and to the ground.

Sutter tried to run off as Faith shot him in the chest.

:I don't think Sutter's gonna be a problem anymore," Faith said.

"What about the curse?" Bo wondered.

"It's a beautiful sunset isn't it?" Buffy asked as she walked up to Faith, Bo and Isabel. "I don't think there's been one quite like it in over two hundred years."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Cole and the cowboy with a vendetta with him stood in the Saloon. Cole went to shoot the cowboy and found he was out of bullets.

"Looks like you're outta bullets," the cowboy said." I'm gonna enjoy this. See you in hell."

"Been there, done that," Cole said as he threw an energy ball at the cowboy.

"Once a demon always a demon," came a voice as Cole turned to face Buffy and Faith.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"So where are they?" Victor asked as he, Prue, Phoebe, Piper and Leo waited for Buffy, Faith and Cole's return.

"I don't know, unless they didn't make it out," Leo said.

"Don't even say it, don't even think it," Prue said at the thought of never seeing her daughter again.

Just then Cole shimmered in with Buffy and Faith.

"Finally," Piper said relieved.

"What took you so long?" Victor asked. "We've been worried sick."

"Sorry, we had a few, uh, loose ends to tie up," Cole told them.

"Are you okay?" Faith asked looking at Phoebe.

Phoebe smiled as she hugged her niece. "I'm great. Thank you." She looked at Buffy and Cole. "All of you."

"And the time loop?" Leo asked.

"Broken," Buffy said. "They will never have to live through that horror again."

"So then, um, where are they?" Victor asked.

"They didn't revert back into our world," Faith said. "So likely they are living out their lives in that dimension."

"You don't think about it too much, Victor," Leo said offering a bit of advice. "It'd just give you a headache."

"Okay, um, anybody up to a rehearsal dinner?" Piper asked.

"Absolutely. I'm starving," Phoebe said.

"As am I," Faith and Buffy said as they laughed.

Piper groaned. She looked to Prue. "I shouldn't have invited Buffy. Faith's Slayer metabolism was bad enough on the food bill," she said as they all headed for the dining table."

"Well, I guess I should be going," Cole suggested.

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea," Prue agreed.

Phoebe walked over to Cole and took his hand in hers. "You're not going anywhere," she said,

"Phoebe, I don't want to cause any trouble," Cole objected.

Phoebe kissed Cole as everyone looked away. "You're staying and that's that."

"Alright then, shall we?" Piper asked.

"Yeah," Cole agreed.


	5. Chapter 4: Just Harried

**Chapter 4: Just Harried**

"Careful, Faith," Prue said as she, Grams and Phoebe watched as Faith moved a floral arch for Piper's wedding.

"Okay, that should do it," Phoebe said as Faith sat down the arch.

"I'm thinking more to the left," Grams said as Faith sighed. "Uh, is this the biggest arch you could get?"

"Without opening a fast food franchise, yeah," Prue said.

"Well, just remember, if love is the quest then marriage is the conquest," Grams said. "This place must be like victory."

"And here I thought weddings were supposed to be romantic," Phoebe said.

Grams shook her head. "Oh my dear sweet child."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Faith wondered.

Prue smiled at her daughter. "It means that you could always calculate Grams' age by the number of rings on her fingers," she explained. "Alright, wedding arch is done. The next thing to do," she let out a yawn, "on the To Do list is..."

"Is sleep," Faith said. "You've been yawning all day, mom."

"Try all week," Prue said. "It's this reoccurring dream I keep having. It's keeping me awake."

"Really? What's in the dream?" Phoebe wondered.

"Well, uh, there was this biker guy and he's kinda cute and kinda dangerous."

"Sounds kinda yummy," Phoebe said as Piper walked into the room and looked around.

"Piper, sweetie, well, what do you think?" Grams asked.

"It's-it's beautiful," Piper said excitedly.

"Yeah, and the best part about it is, it's finally happening," Phoebe said with a nod.

Piper sighed. "Flowers, bows, Faith and Grams. The only thing missing is..."

"Mom," Prue said in understanding.

"Grams, are you sure that you can't do..." Piper said as she looked at her grandmother.

Grams shook her head. "No, nothing. I'm only here because you need a high priestess. They want me back by the witching hour tomorrow."

"I thought maybe this could help," Phoebe said as she held up a photo of Patty.

"You okay?" Prue asked her middle sister.

"Yeah, I just, I can't believe how close I came to sabotaging my own wedding," Piper admitted.

"What do you mean?" Faith wondered.

"Well, with the demons and the false start and 'them' I, you know, I told myself if one more thing went wrong then it just maybe wasn't meant to be," Piper explained.

"Oh, darling," Grams said sympathetically, "there's no need to think that way. I mean, you made it."

"Yeah, and I will personally butt kick any demon who tries to ruin it for you," Prue said.

"So will I," Faith said as she watched her mother yawn. "But I think I might be doing it alone if mom doesn't get some sleep. Come on, I'm tucking you in."

"That's a change," Prue said with a laugh. "The daughter tucking the mother into bed."

"Sweet dreams. Bye," Piper said as Prue and Faith headed up the stairs.

Five minutes later Faith came back downstairs and headed for the front door.

"Patrol?" called Piper from the living room.

"Yeah," Faith said. "I promise, Aunt Piper, I won't stay out all night. I don't plan for your ring bearer slash third bridesmaid to miss your wedding."

"You better not," Piper said. "Don't forget if you need one of us to call for Leo."

"I will," Faith said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Faith stood between two men as she played pool. "Four ball, corner pocket," she called out and took the shot sinking the ball. She had gone out on patrol just as she had told Piper, then after an hour of no activity she decided to unwind. She had found a bar that did not card her. "The more I play, the luckier I get." She walked around the table and sank another ball. "So that would be, uh, twenty bucks that you owe me."

"I never agreed to a bet," one of the men said.

"Rules of the house say loser pays twenty bucks," said TJ as he walked up. "Maybe you want me to take you out front and teach you those rules."

"Alright," the man said as he handed Faith a twenty.

"Thank you," Faith said as she tucked the twenty inside her bra. She looked to TJ. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem," TJ said as he walked toward a woman at the bar.

"I suppose that you want something for me asking you to help her," the woman asked TJ.

TJ smiled. "You could say that."

"Well, you'll have to win it," the woman said.

Faith finally got a look at the woman as TJ grabbed her. Her eyes widened as she recognized the woman. "Mom?" she said shocked. She rushed over to TJ and Prue. "Mom?"

"Mom?" TJ asked confused on why Faith would call Prue, mom.

Prue shrugged. "Can you blame me for having a daughter?" she asked. She looked at Faith. "Having a good time, Faith?"

"Mom, what are you doing here? Last I left you, you were sleeping," Faith said.

"Having a good time, just like you," Prue answered. She turned back to TJ and kissed him. "Well I have to go." She started to walk off as Faith followed.

"No, I want you to stay," TJ said.

"Yeah, I know. You know that I can't, alright, I have..." Prue said.

"Responsibilities, right. That's what you say every night, then you cut out," TJ said.

"You've been here before?" Faith asked.

Prue looked at Faith and sighed. She looked back at TJ. "TJ, I would love to leave my responsible half behind but I can't."

"You can. What are you gonna miss?" TJ asked. "Work? Blow it off. Your daughter, bring her along. There's a freedom that comes with making your own choices."

"Yeah, and I wanna know what that's like but..." Prue said as she kissed TJ again. She and Faith walked out of the bar.

"Mom?" Faith said.

"Hey, you've got my money," said the man who had lost to Faith as she and Prue walked past him.

"Hey, you have a good memory," Faith said.

"Yeah, yeah, maybe I'll just kick it out in trade, huh? Come here," the man said he touched Faith.

Faith spun around freeing herself and kicked him in the face knocking him back away from her.

Prue picked up a piece of wood and hit him in the stomach and he fell to the ground, unconscious. "No, I don't wanna go," she said as she glanced toward Faith and then disappeared.

Faith blinked and shook her head. "Mom?"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Faith stood on the front porch of the Manor the next morning thinking back on the night before. She had debated whether or not to tell Piper or Phoebe what she had seen. In the end she decided to wait till after the wedding so that her aunt would have a happy day without the worry of what was happening to her eldest sister.

It was at that moment that Buffy walked around the corner of the house and toward the front door. "Hi, Faith," she said.

"Hey, B," Faith replied. "I thought you were coming down with you mom."

"She had some last-minute stuff to do for the gallery," Buffy said. "So, she let me blink here by myself."

"Still grounded, I take it," Faith said as Buffy nodded.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "But it's getting better as I learn control over my powers. In fact between my Slayer strength and the blinking. Mom sends me to the store half the time alone so she doesn't have to go."

"How is that better?" Faith wondered.

"Cause I get to see Xander and Willow outside of school or my slayer responsibilities," Buffy said. "Sure it's boring but their happy they can spend time with me even if it is just grocery shopping."

Just then they heard Piper scream from inside the house. Buffy and Faith turned and tore through the front door and found Piper standing on the stairs hiding behind the railing from Leo, who stood at the base of the stairs.

"It is bad luck to see the bride's dress before the wedding," Piper said.

Faith rolled her eyes. "Aunt Piper, you don't even have your dress on."

Piper glared at her niece. "The same rule applies to the bride's... curlers," she said before looking back at Leo. "Go away." She turned and headed upstairs just as Prue and Phoebe walked out of the kitchen and toward them through the dining room.

"Oh, good, you're here," Prue said.

"Yeah, I'm just looking for a place to change," Leo told them as they noticed him holding a robe.

"Uh, what's with the robe?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, it's my formal Whitelighter wear," Leo explained.

"Um, yeah, I—I hope you don't mind but we sort of decided that you should be a little bit more traditional, so we rented you a tux," Phoebe said as Victor walked in behind Faith and Buffy.

"Anybody home?" he asked even though he could see them standing in front of him.

"Daddy!" Phoebe shouted as she rushed over to Victor and hugged him. "Hi."

"Hi, baby," Victor said returning the embrace. "Leo."

"Victor," Leo replied.

Victor turned toward Faith. "Hey, Faith."

"Hi, grandpa," Faith said as everyone laughed. "What's so funny?"

"It's just you calling him grandpa," Buffy explained. "Just last week it was too soon."

"I know," Faith said. "But Grandpa Victor and I have had time in the last week to get to know each other. Right, grandpa?"

"Right, Faith," Victor agreed as Prue walked over to them.

"Hey, dad," Prue said.

"Hey," Victor said as he kissed the top of Prue's head.

"Well, I know that you have a lot of joy and laughter to share so I'll just take you down... whoa," Prue said as she suddenly felt dizzy.

"Mom?" Faith said suddenly worried. The worry was echoed by Victor as he said, "What's the matter?"

"Uh, just a, uh, dizzy spell," Prue said as she sat down on the stairs. "I've been getting them ever since those dreams began."

"What dreams?" Leo asked.

"Oh, you know, those dreams... uh, you know, it's nothing," Prue said.

"You sure mom?" Faith said as she knelt down next to Prue.

"She's fine," Phoebe said trying to alleviate her niece's worries. "Certainly, nothing to worry about." She looked at Leo and Victor. "Okay, you two, follow me." She looked to Prue. "You just sit there and relax." She looked to Faith. "Why don't you show Buffy where she can get ready?" Faith nodded as she led Buffy up the stairs. Phoebe looked back at Prue. "I'll be right back." She turned and led Leo and Victor out of the room and towards the kitchen.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Do you think Aunt Phoebe is right?" Faith asked as they walked into her room.

"I don't know," Buffy said. "But something has you worried. I know that look, Faith. It's the same look you had on your face when I mentioned Kakitos."

Faith laughed slightly at Buffy's mispronunciation of Kakistos' name. "Your right as always," she said. "I went out on a patrol last night. Didn't find any vamps. After an hour of that I decided to unwind, so I found this bar that didn't card me. I found mom there. Before I left the Manor, she was asleep in bed. Then a couple hours later she was at that bar as well. Then the strangest thing happened. We were leaving and she just disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Buffy asked.

Faith sighed. "Yeah. When I got back here, she was asleep in bed."

"Tell you what," Buffy said. "I'll keep an eye on her. You wouldn't worry if it wasn't something major, right?"

"Right," Faith agreed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Downstairs Phoebe and Prue sat on the bottom stair. "Prue, okay, we've got everyone convinced that we have things under control," Phoebe was saying. "Now you have to convince me."

Prue sighed. "I can't do that."

"Oh, no," Phoebe said worried. "What are you feeling?"

"Tired all the time," Prue explained. "I mean, when I fall asleep my dreams are so real, they don't allow me any rest. It's like I'm awake twenty-four hours a day."

"Is the dream sorcerer back?" Phoebe wondered.

Prue shrugged. "I don't think so, but I'm not ruling anything out."

"Well, remember what Piper said," Phoebe said. "If one more thing goes wrong she was gonna call of this wedding."

"No, we can't let that happen," Prue said.

Phoebe smiled. "Okay, why don't you let me handle this almighty To Do list, and you go upstairs and get some rest. Don't sleep, just rest."

"Okay," Prue said as she and Phoebe stood up.

"Huh, wow, so you're relinquishing control to your little sister," Phoebe said. "You must really be tired."

Prue turned and started heading up the stairs. She stopped and looked back at her sister. "And Phoebe, don't tell Faith."

"I didn't plan to," Phoebe replied. "Faith has enough on her plate to deal with, with learning to use her powers, school, patroling and being in this family."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

A few minutes later Prue stepped into her room and over to her bed and the moment she laid down she was fast asleep.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the hall Buffy stood just outside Prue's closed door. She thought on what Faith had said and had managed to get the address of the bar from Faith. She blinked out and back in outside the bar. She walked into the bar and looked around. She was about to give up when she spotted Prue walk past her and toward a pool table.

"Hey," TJ said as he grabbed Prue from behind.

"Hey," Prue replied with a smile on her lips.

"You shouldn't have come back," TJ said.

"What are you talking about?" Prue wondered.

"I spent the whole morning with the cops," TJ explained. "They think you and your daughter killed a guy, and that she took his money."

Prue shook her head. "No, we—we—we didn't kill anyone."

"Good 'cause that's what I told them," TJ explained.

"Prue?" Buffy said as she walked up to Prue.

"Who's this?" TJ wondered.

"Buffy, what are you doing here?" Prue asked shocked to see Buffy there.

"I got the address from Faith," Buffy said. "She's worried about you and for good reason it would seem." She looked to TJ. "So the police are …"

"Looking for her and her daughter. Faith is it?" TJ asked as Buffy nodded. He looked to Prue. "I came to warn you. I didn't have your phone number and you never even gave me your name. Prue, hmm, nice."

"That is the sexiest thing a man's ever done for me," Prue said as she kissed TJ.

"Hey, you keep saying you wanna live a life with no rules, no responsibilities," TJ said. "This is it. A chance. Come on, we can stop and get Faith along the way if you want."

Prue smiled as she and TJ headed outside. Buffy followed them out to a motorcycle just as a police car pulled up.

"Whoa, take it easy," an Inspector said as he stepped out of the car. They noticed another police car pull up beside his.

"Don't do it for me, TJ," Prue said. "You either, Buffy."

"You both don't wanna be an accessory for murder," the Inspector agreed as he pulled out his handcuffs.

"My last name's Halliwell," Prue said to TJ. "Prue Halliwell."

"Put up your hands. Come on," the Inspector said as he handcuffed Prue. "Let's go."

Buffy watched as Prue was put into the police car and then disappear.

Buffy walked away around the back of the bar and blinked out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Prue sat straight up in bed and looked at her wrists. "Oh, no," she said. She looked at Phoebe and began to explain the dream she had just woken up from. "Faith and I were wanted for murder but this, this guy in my dream, he risked himself to save me. Sexy guy," she said.

"Prue, forget the guy. What about the arrest," Phoebe said.

"She was put into the patrol car and disappeared right in front of me," came Buffy's voice.

Prue and Phoebe turned and looked at Buffy who stood in the door to Prue's room.

"What?" Phoebe asked.

"It wasn't a dream," Buffy said. "You remember seeing me at the bar?"

Prue nodded.

"You were at a bar?" Phoebe asked confused. "What bar?"

"Last night Faith patrolled for an hour, or so she told me anyways," Buffy said. "Then after not finding a single vamp she went to a bar to unwind. A bar by the way that didn't card her. When I came down for the wedding she told me what she had seen. She didn't want to worry you Phoebe or Piper, not with all that was going on. She was there playing pool when she spotted Prue and …"

"TJ," Prue said.

"TJ," Buffy echoed. "Anyways she followed you out and this guy tried to get the money Faith won from him and she kicked him away from her and you hit him with a board knocking him out. Then you proceeded to disappear right in front of Faith's eyes. When she told me what she had seen, she asked me to keep an eye on you, Prue. She was afraid…"

"Of what might happen if something happened to me," Prue sighed as she remembered everything that both Buffy and Faith had told her after they returned from saving Bo. Not just about what had happened in Sunnydale, but also what had happened in Boston and with Faith's watcher. "And I was trying to protect her, so she wouldn't worry."

"She lets very few people in," Buffy said with a sigh. "If she is worrying about you, then you found the chink in her armor. Anyways, she gave me the address for the bar. I blinked over there and guess who I saw."

"Me," Prue said before she looked toward Phoebe. "And you know the rest."

"Okay, so now we know that while you sleep somehow you're in two places at once," Phoebe said. She looked over at Buffy. "Prue was here the entire time she was asleep, of that I'm sure." She looked back at her sister. "But the question is how. Could you be astral projecting?"

Prue shrugged. "I don't know, but I've never done it before while asleep. Why would I be doing it now? Maybe we should look in the Book of Shadows see if maybe there is an answer there," she suggested.

"I'll call Giles," Buffy said, "after I fill in Faith. And before you say anything you don't know her like I do. Telling is better than not."

"Okay," Prue said as they headed for her bedroom door.

"Wait, should we tell Piper?" Phoebe asked.

Prue shook her head. "No, I won't let this be the one thing that goes wrong today. I'll be okay as long as I stay awake, right? For Piper?"

"For Piper," Phoebe said with a glance at Buffy who didn't echo the sentiment. "Buffy, you are supposed to say for Piper also."

"I thought it was implied," Buffy suggested. "For Piper. By the way, can I make a suggestion. Till you guys figure out what's going on that you don't leave the house, Prue?"

"If the police are looking for me, that might be a good idea," Prue said. She glanced at Phoebe. "Darryl is coming over for Piper's wedding, right?"

"Yeah," Phoebe said. "So we'll see if we can get this figured out by then. Then you and Faith can get it straightened out with Darryl."

As they walked out of Prue's room Piper came out of hers. She noticed that Phoebe and Prue were heading for the attic and that Buffy was heading for Faith's room. Something was up. "Hold it right there," she said. "What's wrong?"

"Boy bands," Phoebe said trying to distract Piper long enough to forget where they were heading. "There's just too many of them, don't you think?"

"No," Piper said as she looked at Buffy, Phoebe and Prue. "What's wrong with you three?"

"Uh, nothing's wrong," Prue said.

Piper shook her head, she didn't believe that for a second. "I can see it in your faces," she told them. "We've been demon hunting for three years now. And Buffy …?" she didn't know how long Buffy had been the Slayer.

"Three years also," Buffy supplied.

"Anyways you're going to the attic, aren't you?" Piper asked before glancing at Buffy. "And you are going to get Faith and you two are going to join them, right?"

"Yes, we are," Buffy said. "We're going to find something that Faith can give as your wedding gift. Maybe something old …?"

"Something new..." Phoebe added catching on to where Buffy was going.

"Uh, something, something borrowed, something blue," Prue finished. "Buffy told us that Faith felt bad about not getting you something. So she was gonna surprise you but now you caught us helping her."

"Oh," Piper said as a smile graced her lips.

"Yeah, I mean, look, I told you, you have nothing to worry about today, alright? It's going to be a demon-free day," Prue said as Cole shimmered in scaring Piper. "Hey!"

"Sorry I'm late," Cole said.

"You were saying?" Piper said with a glance at Prue.

Buffy glared at Cole as if to say I will be watching you. She then turned and walked into Faith's room and shut the door.

"Well?" Faith asked from where she sat on the bed.

"You were right to be worried," Buffy said. "What you saw was real. On top of that it happened again, whatever it is. I went to the bar and found your mom there. And I found out that both you and her are wanted for murder."

"What!" Faith shouted.

"I didn't catch the details," Buffy said. "Till we know more, I suggest you don't the leave the house."

"Might be a good idea," Faith agreed. "Don't have the Watcher's Council to sweep it under the rug this time."

"Phoebe and your mom are looking through their Book of Shadows," Buffy said. "We ran into Piper on the way and had to come up with a quick excuse on why we were heading upstairs. You need to head up, because Piper thinks your wedding gift will be something old, something borrowed and something blue."

"Ah," Faith said. "What are you going to do?"

"Call Giles and then join you, your mom and Phoebe in the attic."

As Faith left the room Buffy picked up the phone on Faith's desk and dialed.

"Hello," came Giles voice.

"Giles, it's Buffy," Buffy said. "I need your expertise. Faith's mom is somehow when she is asleep able to be in two places at once. We don't know how though."

"Sounds like astral projection," Giles replied.

"They thought of that already," Buffy said. "Prue I think might have that power. But she said she has never done it while asleep."

"That could be the answer to your problem," Giles said. "Remember Billy, he was in a coma and he astral projected out of his body."

"And being in a coma is like being asleep," Buffy said as she remembered Billy. "Right."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Faith walked into the attic and over to her mother as Prue closed the Book of Shadows. "Anything," she asked.

Prue sighed and shook her head. "Nothing."

"So, what are we going to do?" Faith asked as Prue looked at her. "I'm worried okay. And you know me it has to be something major to make me worry."

"Well I think for right now we need to get ready for Piper's wedding," Prue suggested. "Get through that first and then deal with the rest after."

"I have some information," Buffy said as she stepped into the attic. "You have the power to make yourself be in two places at once right?" Prue nodded. "In Sunnydale, we encountered a boy who could do what you do. But he was doing it while he was in a coma, he of course had the added effect because of the Hellmouth of bringing the nightmare world with him. So, it might be possible that is what is happening here, you are …"

"Projecting myself out of my body while I am asleep," Prue said. "That would explain why I feel so tired all of the time. I'm not really asleep when I am projecting myself out. But that doesn't solve the problem of why."

"Mom," Faith said, "I would highly suggest that you don't sleep till after we deal with the cops and the arrest warrants, that way we can try and find out what is going on without worry."

"Good idea, Faith," Prue agreed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In Piper's room, Piper was getting ready as she put on her earrings and looked in the mirror just as her mother, Patty, appeared behind her.

"Oh, you're so beautiful," Patty said as a smile graced her lips.

"Mom?" Piper said as she looked at her mother's reflection in the mirror.

"Don't be afraid," Patty offered.

"Oh, my god," Piper said as she turned to face Patty. "But... it can't be 'cause, um, ghosts, ghosts glow. You're not glowing."

Patty smiled. "I'm not a ghost. Well, not today. Today I am simply your mother."

"But, uh, how?" Piper asked confused.

"After all the Elders put you and Leo through," Patty explained, "they wanted to give you something back, so, so they sent me down, just for your wedding day. You know, I think I wore my hair like this for my wedding day."

Piper smiled as she thought about her mother's wedding album. "You did. Uh, I kept your wedding album after you died and..." she said as Patty licked a finger and pushed a strand of her hair in place. "And I looked at the pictures every night like a bedtime story."

"I always thought you'd be the first to get married," Patty said. She thought about Faith. She had even thought that Piper would be the first to have a child, but it seemed destiny had other ideas. "You're the heart of this family, Piper."

"I'm not dreaming, am I?" Piper asked as she touched Patty's hand to confirm her mother was actually standing there before her.

Patty shook her head. "No, sweetie, you're not."

"Mom," Piper said as she hugged Patty.

"Mom?" echoed another voice and they turned to see it was Phoebe alongside Prue, Faith and Buffy.

"It's true," Piper said. "She's real. They sent her to us for today."

Patty moved away from Piper and over to Prue. "Oh, Prue. It's been so hard on you, unfair."

"Yeah... no, it doesn't matter," Prue said. "I just wanted to make you proud."

"You protected this family better than I could. I'm so proud of you," Patty said. She then glanced at Faith. "And that prepared you for the day …"

Prue looked at Faith and smiled. "For when Faith, would come home." She looked back at her mother. "Thank you."

"And you, my baby, you feel it all, don't you?" Patty said as she looked toward Phoebe. "I was never there to comfort you. I died before you even knew me."

"Some nights I just wanted you to hold me," Phoebe said.

"Your road's been the longest, Phoebe," Patty said. "But I was never worried about you. You know why? Because I had a premonition the day you were born."

"You did?" Faith asked. She looked at her mother. "I thought that Grandma Patty's power was the same power Aunt Piper had."

"It was," Prue said.

"Phoebe gave it to me," Patty explained, "as she was being born."

"What did you see?" Piper wondered.

"Oh, I saw this. I saw this moment right now, my three daughters and my granddaughter standing before me as beautiful young women and I knew that everything would be okay," Patty said.

"What did you see next?" Phoebe wondered.

"I held you," Patty said as she folded Phoebe into her arms as Prue and Piper joined them. She looked at Faith and held out an arm and Faith hesitantly stepped into the group embrace. As she held them she looked at Buffy and smiled. She did not tell them, but she had another premonition a few months earlier. This one of Faith with only Buffy. And she smiled at the blonde Slayer knowing that her granddaughter was on the road to overcoming everything that had happened in Boston.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Moments later Leo, Grams, Phoebe, Prue, Buffy, Cole and Victor waited for Faith, Patty and Piper to come down the stairs.

"Places, places everyone," Grams said as the doorbell rang.

"Don't answer that," Prue told everyone.

"Can somebody answer that?" Piper called from upstairs.

"Ooh, I'll get it," Prue said as she walked over to the door and upon opening it she found Darryl there. "Hey, you're late. Where were you?"

"Out saving your ass," Darryl said.

"Oh, the arrest warrant," Prue said.

"Yeah, you and the girl that was here when you were saving Tom Peters are wanted for murder. They have yet to find her but said you fled custody this morning," Darryl explained. "They don't have yours or her names yet but it's only a matter of time."

"Prue!" Grams called from the other room.

"Alright, let's just stay cool and we'll get downtown and straighten this out later. But we have to get through the wedding first, okay? For Piper?" Prue said, when Darryl said nothing she gave him a look. "You're supposed to say 'For Piper'."

"Alright, it better be a quick wedding," Darryl said as he and Prue joined the others.

"Everything looks perfect except Victor, could you move a little to your left," Grams said.

"Sure, why?" Victor said as he moved a little to his left.

"Well, to make room for..." Grams said as she motioned toward Patty who came up beside Victor.

"Patty," Victor said surprised.

"Hello, Victor, how are you?" Patty asked.

"Good. I mean, I was good," Victor said slightly flabbergasted. "Alright, who brought my ex-wife back from the dead?"

"Not now, Victor," Grams said. "I know you two have issues but that's what the reception is for." She motioned toward the CD player which began to play the wedding music.

Faith walked with Piper down the stairs, Piper's arm was looped through her own. As they came to the bottom, Victor held out his arm as Faith stepped aside and Piper looped her arm through her fathers. Victor walked Piper, followed by Faith, over to Leo.

All the while that was happening Darryl noticed that the girl that had been here during the Tom Peters incident and was now wanted for murder was still here and that Prue, Piper and Phoebe must know her otherwise she wouldn't have been invited to a wedding where a ghost preceded over the ceremony.

"We did it. It's really happening," Phoebe said.

Suddenly there was a crash of the front door being shattered as TJ rode is motorcycle through it. He knocked over the flowers and then knocked over the table as all the glassware smashed to the floor. He stopped in front of the table the cake was sitting on.

"Prue!" TJ called out.

"Is that?" Phoebe said with a glance at Buffy and Faith.

Buffy nodded. "TJ."

"Oh, oh, oh no," Prue said as she fainted.

"Prue?" Phoebe said just as Prue's astral form appeared.

"TJ," Astral Prue said as she ran over to him. "You came." She got on the back of the motorcycle.

"Had to beat the cops," TJ said. "I won't let them take you."

Prue looked at Faith. "Come on!"

"No," Faith said. "Sorry mom."

"Mom?" Darryl whispered to himself as he glanced between Faith and Prue.

"Prue, what the hell is going on?" Piper shouted.

"Prue, you get your astral ass back here!" Phoebe said as TJ rode off, knocking over the cake table and knocking the cake to the floor. "Honey..."

"Alright, that's it! The wedding is off!" Piper said as she threw her veil to the floor. She tried to walk out the door but found Phoebe standing on the edge of her dress. "Phoebe!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" Phoebe said as Piper walked away. "Piper, Piper, wait, think about this." She watched her sister grab a sweater and began to put it on. "Piper, Piper, you cannot just leave."

"Yes, I can," Piper said over her shoulder. "A demon I could have handled, but my big sister ruining my wedding, I cannot handle that."

"Okay, just listen to me for one second," Phoebe argued. "All we have to do is find a way."

Piper shook her head. "No, no, I don't wanna find a way to get married on my wedding day. It's—it's too hard. There must be a reason."

"Piper..." Leo said as he and Faith both walked over to Piper and Phoebe.

Piper sighed. "Leo, I'm sorry, but this is just the final straw. It's just not meant to be," she said as she walked out the front door.

"I'll go ..." Faith started to say.

"No," Darryl said as he walked up to them. "You and Prue are wanted for murder. And I'm afraid you will have to come down to the precinct with me, Ms."

"Halliwell," Faith answered. "Faith Halliwell."

Darryl looked towards Phoebe and Leo.

"She's Prue and Andy's daughter," Phoebe explained. "Prue had her back in high school. Grams gave her up for adoption and then cast a spell on us and Andy and his family erasing the knowledge that Prue had ever been pregnant. Faith somehow got ahold of her real birth certificate and came looking for Prue."

Darryl nodded as he looked at Faith. "Of course, I will have to check that out," he said as Phoebe and Leo walked back into the living room as he and Faith followed. "But if it is true, I am glad to have met Andy's daughter. But that said you need to give me the name currently that would be in the system."

"Lehane," Faith said with a sigh. "Faith Lehane."

They watched as Victor laid Prue on the couch. "I've never seen Piper so defeated," Phoebe said as Leo sat on the other couch. "Prue, come on, wake up. Prue, come on."

"Honey, you won't get her back that way," Patty said. "A part of Prue wanted to escape and it used her astral self to do it."

"How though?" Buffy wondered. "Giles, he used to be my Watcher before the Council fired him. Anyways he said you normally have to be awake."

"She is awake," Patty said. "We're all awake in reality twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. When we sleep our subconscious is awake, how else do we dream?"

"If the wedding's off, I have to go. I'm only here to conduct the ceremony. I'm sorry," Grams said as she disappeared.

"Maybe Piper's right," Victor said. "Maybe the wedding just wasn't meant to be."

"Victor," Patty said with a sigh.

"All I'm saying is maybe the gods are just trying to spare them the pain that we went through," Victor suggested.

"I don't believe that for a second," Faith said. "While what you two went through was bad, I agree there. I also know that what Aunt Piper and Leo have is real. I've seen it, they're meant to be together."

"Faith's right," Leo said in agreement. "All I need is what's inside of me to know that Piper and I are meant to be together. What happened here today..."

"Piper and Leo's love have touched us all, not just Faith," Phoebe said. "We have to fix this."

"I gotta go fend of the posse," Darryl said as his pager went off.

"What posse?" Victor asked.

"Mom and I are wanted for murder," Faith said.

"I'll stay in touch by cell phone," Darryl said as he motioned for Faith to follow him.

"Murder?" Patty said as Darryl and Faith left.

"You knew about this?" Leo asked with a glance at Phoebe.

"Actually, I found out," Buffy said as Leo glanced at her. "Faith had some worries about Prue. She asked me to keep an eye on her mother while I was here today. I did, I got the address for a bar that Faith went to last night from Faith. Found Prue there when she was supposed to be asleep here. The cops showed up. Apparently both Faith and Prue are wanted for a murder that supposedly happened last night."

"Regardless it's obviously a mistake," Phoebe said. "I mean, Prue and Faith wouldn't murder anybody." Buffy coughed as she glanced at the blonde Slayer. "You told Prue that was an accident."

"It was," Buffy said with a sigh.

"What was an accident?" Victor asked.

"We were out on patrol in Sunnydale," Buffy said. "This guy came out of nowhere. Faith stabbed him, thinking he was a vampire. The Watcher's Council has connections, got the case closed."

"Alright, alright, you guys find Piper, bring her back here somehow," Leo said. "Phoebe, Buffy, Book of Shadows, see if there's a spell to bring astral Prue back. Cole, you and me are gonna do a little investigating of our own. Alright, come on you guys. We've got a wedding to save."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"I've just gotta know," TJ said as he laid in the grass of the park that he and astral Prue were in. He looked over at her as she sat beside him. "How'd you get away from the cops?"

"You know, I don't really wanna talk about that. I mean, I'm here now, that's all that really matters, right?" astral Prue said as she smiled at him.

"Yeah, but for how long?" TJ asked.

"Do you care?" astral Prue wondered.

TJ shrugged. "Well, I did crash your sister's wedding. Plus, you did leave your daughter behind."

"Yes, you did," astral Prue agreed. "And yes, I did."

"And I am harboring you from the cops," TJ added.

Astral Prue smiled. "And I appreciate that," she said appreciatively.

"I may definitely pass for a state behavior –" TJ said with a shake of his head.

"So then why are you still talking?" astral Prue asked.

"Prue, I don't need much, but I need to know one thing," TJ said as he sat up and looked toward Prue. He was sure he already knew the answer. "Are you gonna take off from me again tonight?"

"You know, I hadn't really thought about it," astral Prue said with a shrug. "I mean, for the first time in my life I'm free, so I'm sorta just living moment to moment. Is that okay?"

TJ nodded. "I'm cool with that."

"Cool with that," astral Prue said as they leaned into each other and kissed, Suddenly she felt like she was being pulled as if her body wanted her back like it like it did when she woke up. "Oh, not now."

"What's wrong?" TJ asked as astral Prue jumped up and ran off. "Prue? Prue, where are you going?"

Astral Prue ran into the bushes and grabbed hold of a tree. "No, I'm free. I'm not going back," she said moments before she disappeared.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Faith Lehane," the Inspector said as he looked over Faith's files. When Darryl got Faith to the precinct he put her into a interrogation room and then left. It had only be a few minutes before the Inspector had come in and sat down. "Interesting file you have. Abusive parents, placed in foster care after the death of your father and your mother was incarcerated for child abuse. Adoptive parent killed by an unknown person. Then there was an incident of indecent exposure where police officers found a priest, of all people, hugging you. Lastly there was the death of the deputy mayor in Sunnydale, and you along with another young woman were prime suspects before the case was closed citing no evidence."

Faith shrugged. "Sounds like me. But the thing is those people in Boston that you called my parents, weren't. My mom lives here in San Francisco her name is Prue Halliwell."

The Inspector looked over his file and shook his head. "According to this your birth mother has no parental rights."

"That's not true," came a voice from the door. They turned and saw Darryl standing there. He walked over to the Inspector and laid a file in front of him. "When I found out that Ms. Halliwell believed Prue Halliwell was her mother, I did some checking. Eighteen years ago, Ms. Halliwell was kidnapped, by individuals unknown. The birth parents, Prue Halliwell and Inspector Andy Trudeau—yes that Andy—were minors at the time. Penny Halliwell, was the legal guardian of Prue Halliwell and her sisters. She reported her great granddaughter missing."

Faith looked at Darryl wondering if Darryl had fabricated all of that. Grams after all had said she had given her up for adoption.

"That means," Darryl continued, "that Prue Halliwell is Ms. Halliwell's legal mother as she did not give up her rights."

"That maybe," the Inspector said. "But Prue Halliwell is also wanted for the same murder." He looked at Faith. "Which means she can't…"

"Actually, Prue Halliwell has every right to either be in here for the questioning of her daughter or to make sure that an attorney is present," Darryl interrupted. He smiled at the Inspector as he sat next to Faith. "I'm not an attorney, but Piper Halliwell, Prue Halliwell's middle sister has allowed me to be here in the absence of her sister to advise Ms. Halliwell till such time as their attorney or Prue Halliwell can be found and brought in."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Astral Prue looked around the living room of the Manor before seeing Phoebe.

"Nice spell, huh?" Phoebe said as she shut the Book of Shadows.

"How dare you," astral Prue said.

"How dare you," Phoebe said. "You destroyed Piper's wedding along with Piper. Now, Prue, I don't know what's going on with you but you have got to pull yourself together."

"I'm outta here," Prue said as she headed for the front door. She spotted Buffy in her way.

"I think not," Buffy said. "And don't think about trying to flip me or something to get past me. I'm a Slayer, remember?"

"You cannot stop me, alright," astral Prue said. "I am never going back. I'm not going..." Buffy grabbed Prue by the arm and pulled her reluctantly toward the couch on which laid Prue's body. "Alright, you know what? I am sick of this. She is all about duty and obligation, well not me. Alright, I want to be free, I wanna find love, I wanna have a life."

"Well, Prue, you have responsibilities whether you like it or not," Phoebe said.

"Don't talk to me about being responsible, Phoebe," astral Prue said. "Alright, you were not very responsible when you went and fell in love with a demon. And Buffy, Faith said you fell in love with a vampire, you are not anymore responsible either."

"Oh, please, you have got to let this whole Cole thing go, okay?" Phoebe said with a sigh. "You can't stay mad at me forever. And you can be mad at Buffy either."

"I'm not mad at either of you, Phoebe, I never was," astral Prue said. "Alright, she was." She pointed toward her body. "Well at least you Phoebe. Regardless I was rooting for you both."

"Is it only me she's scaring?" Buffy asked confused.

"No," Phoebe said.

"You both risked everything for love, just like Piper and Leo," astral Prue explained. "I dream of having that kind of freedom but instead I get stuck watching my sisters live my dream."

"Wait a minute," Phoebe said as she realized something, "you astraled out in a dream when your subconscious takes over."

"What are you getting at?" Buffy wondered.

"So I just studied this in psych 101," Phoebe explained. "Freud." She looked at astral Prue. "You're the ID. Prue's inner desires." She motioned toward Prue's body. "Which means that she is the ego. The control factor."

Astral Prue nodded in agreement at the analogy that sprang to mind. "Yeah, well, she is one big remote control and she's always got me on pause."

"I think I understand," Phoebe said. "The sacrifices that you've made for us over the years. The sacrifices you now make to be a good parent for Faith. They made you suppress your inner desires."

"Yeah, well, don't tell me, tell her," astral Prue said as she sat next to Phoebe.

"Uhm aren't they both two halves to a whole?" Buffy asked.

"They are," Phoebe said as she kept her gaze on astral Prue. "I'm telling you because you are Prue. I mean, you are both two sides of my sister. Prue, you have to stop devoting your entire self to the Charmed Ones and to Faith. It'll tear you apart. Literally."

"Is Piper very mad at me?" astral Prue wondered.

"She'll get over it. And you know why?" Phoebe said. "Because we're okay now, Piper and me. We've both got passion and purpose in our lives and you gave us that. And Faith she's okay, well except for being arrested for murder, but she is here now with us, her family. And now it's time to take care of you." She smiled as astral Prue looked at her body as she disappeared and Prue woke up. "Welcome back."

"Thanks. For everything. Oh, no," Prue said. "Both of you." She stood and walked into the conservatory and saw the mess TJ had made. "Oh. I cannot believe I wrecked Piper's wedding."

"Only a part of you did," Phoebe said.

"Is it too late to fix it?" Prue wondered.

"I don't think so," Buffy said. "But you might think about Faith, first. She is after all in jail."

"Right," Prue said as she walked into the foyer, grabbed her purse and walked out the front door.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the bar Cole waited for Leo and Darryl as he watched the person his demonic senses told him was a killer.

"Faith's been booked for murder," Leo said as he and Darryl walked up next to him. "And the moment Prue walked into the precinct she was as well. "We're running out of time."

"Leo says you've found the killer," Darryl said. When Prue had arrived he had managed despite the fact that Prue was wanted for the same murder as well to get her in the same interrogation room as Faith so that Faith would have a legal guardian available. He hadn't had time to tell Prue what he had found out when Leo had come to get him.

"Found a killer," Cole said.

"Oh, great, you mean you don't know?" Darryl asked. "What are you gonna do? Ask him?"

They watched as the biker walked past them and out the door.

"That's a good idea. Why don't you meet me out front in five," Cole said as he followed the biker outside. He found the biker smoking a cigarette. "Is that the spot where they found the body?"

"Who are you?" the biker wondered.

"I'm here to find out what you know about the murder that took place here last night," Cole said.

"Show me your badge."

Cole laughed. "Oh, no, I'm not a cop. I'm a fortune teller and I predict you're gonna give me a confession."

"You're a funny man, huh?" the biker told Cole. "Excuse me, huh?" He started to walk away but ole grabbed him. He pushed Cole into his motorcycle as he pulled out a knife.

As Cole got back up the biker swung the knife at him and he quickly dodged it. "I guess that's the knife you used on the victim when you found him unconscious, right?" he asked.

"You wanna closer look at it, huh?" the biker wondered as he tried to stab Cole.

Cole grabbed the biker's wrist. "One more chance. Confess now and talk to the police," he said.

"Or what?" the biker wondered.

Cole smirked as he changed into his demonic form of Belthazor. "Or deal with me.," he said as Darryl and Leo walk out the door. Darryl saw Cole and got out his gun. He turned to Darryl. "I think he's ready to talk."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Darryl walked next to Prue as they followed Faith toward the front door of the Precinct. "Prue," he said. He handed a copy of the investigation file he had found on Faith. "You should read this."

"Why what's in it?" Prue wondered.

"Phoebe told me that your Grams gave Faith up for adoption, she didn't. According to the report I found, Faith was kidnapped," Darryl said.

Prue looked toward Faith who had stopped at the doors and was looking back at them. "Kidnapped, are you sure?" she asked.

Darryl nodded. "Positive. The report was filed by your Grams, by Penny Halliwell, when Faith was only two months old."

Prue frowned as she wondered why Grams had lied about giving Faith up for adoption.

"That's not all, Prue," Darryl said. "The people that I suspect took her, abused her. Well the woman anyways. The man, well he died under mysterious circumstances three months before Faith was pulled from the home by Protective Services. She was then adopted by a woman and then about a year ago, she died under mysterious circumstances."

"I know about Diana," Prue said with a sigh. "Faith told me about her. I didn't know about the Lehanes though." She looked at her daughter wondering how much more Faith had gone through before finally returning to her.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the manor Patty put the bride and groom back onto the cake.

"I don't get it," Leo said. "Prue and Faith should be back by now, the police have the killer."

"They might have held Prue over for escaping custody," Cole said.

Just then Grams appeared before them. "I'm sorry, Patty," she said looking at her daughter. "They sent me to take you back."

"No, it's not midnight yet, we still have five more minutes," Phoebe objected.

Victor sighed. "I should have said something more to convince Piper."

"But you said everything, you were wonderful," Patty said as she smiled at her ex.

Just then Prue, Darryl and Faith came through the front door.

"Sorry we're late," Darryl said.

"What, not who you were expecting?" Prue asked as Piper walked up behind them.

"So, okay, what are we waiting for?" Piper asked as she took off her sweater. She looked to Leo and smiled. "Don't look so shocked."

"Girls, it's show time," Grams called out.

"Little help here," Piper said as Prue put on her veil.

"I noticed you don't have a best man," Victor said. "If you like, I could, uh..."

Leo smiled. "I'd be honored."

"Buffy," Prue said as she motioned for the blonde Slayer to stand beside her, Phoebe and Faith.

"Are you sure?" Buffy asked as she glanced at Piper.

Piper looked at her eldest sister and could see something had happened and she nodded. "Yeah," she said as Buffy moved beside Prue, Phoebe and Faith.

Grams motioned toward the CD player and it began to play. She cleared her throat. "We are gathered here today to unite two souls as one. Do you, Leo Wyatt, and Piper Halliwell, join us here of your own free will to acknowledge the eternal bond shared by both of you."

"I do," Leo and Piper said.

"You may face each other, join hands," Grams said as Piper and Leo turned to face each other and took the others hands in their own. "Uh, Leo, you may recite your vows."

Leo smiled as he looked into Piper's eyes. "Piper, through all the tears and struggles, I always knew in my heart that we'd make it here. I promise to love and respect you from this point forward as your husband, as my wife, my lover, my friend, and my soul mate. All I am is yours."

"Piper..." Grams said.

"Leo, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me," Piper said as she returned Leo's gaze. "I was afraid that you were too good to be true, that maybe I didn't deserve someone so pure and beautiful and loving as you are. But here we are surrounded by the people that I love the most and I feel so proud, and so blessed to be your wife. Leo, I was born to love you and I always will."

"Here before witnesses, Leo and Piper have sworn their vows towards each other," Grams said as Faith took the cord she held and wrapped them loosely around Leo and Piper's hands. "With this cord, I bind them to those vows."

"Heart to thee, body to thee, always and forever, so mote it be," Leo and Piper said simultaneously.

"So mote it be," Grams said as everyone else echoed.

Just then the clock began to chime telling them all it was midnight.

"Kiss her fast," Grams said as Piper and Leo kissed. As everyone clapped Patty moved over to Grams knowing it was time to go.

"Before you go Grams," Prue said. "I have to ask why you lied about Faith?"

"Lied?" Patty asked as she looked at her mother.

"What are you talking about," Grams said.

"While I was checking out Faith's claim about being Prue and Andy's daughter. I came across an investigation report dated eighteen years ago. You filed it," Darryl said. "Stating your great granddaughter had been kidnapped."

Grams sighed. "I was ashamed," she said. "I protected you girls from all the demons and warlocks, but I couldn't protect Faith from those men. They came in the middle of the night, somehow snuck past me and got at your bassinet, Faith. I think they may have cast a spell to hide themselves from me, I don't know."

"So," Faith said. "I was never given up for adoption?"

"No," Darryl said. "You were kidnapped by the Lehanes."

"Giving what we know," Piper said. "That sounds possible."

"I tried to find you, Faith," Grams said. "But in the end I had to give up. The trail had gone cold and so I cast the spell that erased you from Prue, Piper and Phoebe's memories and from those of Andy's family. I am sorry, I should have looked harder."

"It could have turned out worse," Buffy said.

"How so," Patty wondered.

"She could have been abused," Buffy said as she noticed a look on both Prue and Faith's faces. "What?"


End file.
